Bound to You :Part II:
by Light-of-Halo
Summary: (FINISHED)Ten months, an eternity, an instant, a state of mind. Yet, that magic number unites three people after an incident that cost them their only happiness.rn:Vicious Faye:
1. Recollection

Disclaimer: I don't own Cowboy bebop or any of its characters; note I also do not own Chia Pets, 'the world.' or Carmen Sandiago.

NOTE: if you have not read 'Betrayed by You :part I:' you will not understand and everything will seem every OOC. This is a sequel....duh...

Recollection

*(*

"Aren't you a little young for a bounty hunter? Preteens should keep their noses out of others business." A haggard, half-drunk man with a mullet and wearing a colorful strange T-shirt with a peace sign on it; yells at me as I stand-off with him in the middle of the windy, yet warm alley. 

The Venusian air blows the sweet fragrance of flowers that mysteriously grow in its depths. Obviously he has no idea who he is dealing with. I smile and take an offensive stance, the wind in the alley shifts and blows trash and debris.

"I wouldn't be talking if I were you old man, you should be in a nursing home instead of making a horrible attempt at counterfeiting cash cards." Ok, so that was lame, but in spite of what people think, ex syndicate, I am not that good at intimidating people, especially when it comes to trash talking, I suck.

"You scare me, really you do, bring it on you little pissant, what are you going to do?!" The thirty-nine year old heavy set man charges at me with a bent lead pipe, his long dirty mullet fanning out like a muddy tree branch behind him. He swings at me but I sidestep him and slam down my elbow into his spinal cord. He yells out in pain and turns to attack again, he raises the pipe over his head and tries to crash it into my skull.

"Bad move." I grab his right arm before he can finish his attack and with a swift motion with my left hand I chop him in the neck pressure-point, rendering him unconscious. My teal eyes flame up with the surge of the finale, I enjoy fighting, not killing, but bounty hunting is a great way of relieving the urge to fight without hurting someone or something important.

"Hey Jet I got him I'm coming to the Bebop." I click the communicator and sigh, dragging the unsightly man on the pavement and into the back seat of my sleek black syndicate-standard zip craft, making sure his feet and hands are bound.

My eyes look at a barrel-fire across from me, and I remember that day, the syndicate incident. if there was one day I could live over and change, that day would be up there. I close the doors of my zip craft and press on the accelerator and lift off towards Bebop, I'm glad we can finally get off Venus. I dislike flowers, they remind me of people grieving in front of coffins.

I expertly maneuver my thin, Lamborghini inspired, zip craft across the polluted Venus sky-scape. The man groans in the back seat as I land on Bebop, docked and waiting in the calm water. The hangar door opens and I catch on the connector and stop abruptly. I still haven't quite gotten the hang of this thing yet. 

I wave to Jet in the hangar, dragging the bounty into the common-room and handcuffing his wrists to the piping, I turn back and walk to the hangar where I saw Jet. It looks like he needs help with the Hammerhead, which was damaged a couple days ago. I grin as I see the old cop hunched over his 'pride and joy' making sure everything on it works properly.

As I run my hand through my pushed back black hair, my teal eyes watch Jet as he meticulously welds parts back onto his Hammerhead which was damaged in the last bounty hunt. It has been 10 months since the incident at the Syndicate compound, and my life; all our lives, haven't been the same since. Faye seems to always be in the back of my mind, lingering there.  


Like a spring rain.  


"Hey Shin-o nice job, 4 million woolongs! Hey canya hand me that wrench over there?" I pull out of my stupor and smile at the slightly senile cop. I pass him the wrench and he turns back around to repair. My zip craft still carries the scars of that night; the scorch marks still mar the sleek black surface. I lean back against its hull, my life has changed since that day I ran into Faye in the Callisto apartment building.

"Hey Shin, I'm about done, lets have some dinner, go get Ed she is around here somewhere with Ein." Jet is an example of how people have changed, not to say that I knew him when Vicious was alive, not to mention when Spike was. The old cop, well ex cop, changed after Spikes death, I can tell.  


"Sure. Ill go look for her, she is probably in the common room."  


He told me when they found Spike's body in a sewage drain half a mile from the  
syndicate compound, that the ISSP rejoiced profusely in finding one of the most elusive Syndicate fugitives in history, dead. Needless to say, Jet never talked to his old cop buddies ever again. When Faye saw that the ISSP celebrated Spike's death, she took her glock and shot holes in the screen of the TV. 

When Faye saw that they celebrated Vicious' death with equal fervor, she kicked the TV in with her boots and wasn't seen for five days. She changed drastically after Vicious died, she didn't sleep much, she never wore any make-up and she even stopped smoking and gambling. Though the smoking I'm not complaining about, it is as if she died. I miss the Faye that had emotion and hobbies and…the fire about her.

They never found Vicious' body, it most likely incinerated in the fire and explosion; the ISSP rejoiced even more than when Spike died. Jet didn't say a word, not a 'good riddance' or 'about time' not even a 'stupid bastard'; yet he wasn't saying anything against the ISSP either. I just don't think he really knew what to say. I don't know why he didn't, perhaps Vicious just wasn't worth it to Jet. Or perhaps it was just that Faye loved him so much. I sure didn't say anything, I don't even know my opinion of the guy.

I walk down the rotating corridor; it has taken me a while to adapt to the Bebop. I usually just stayed on the planet Mars; that is where I was stationed, back when I was in the Syndicate. I never really liked the Syndicate, but my run-in with Daemon that night made me realize how much of a twisted, corrupt, vile system the Syndicate is. 

Daemon told me everything about Vicious' family, how they were murdered, who murdered them, and how Spike helped out. I know why Vicious killed Mao; he killed his father, pure and simple. And I think might have Mao deserved it, Mao was not the warm person everyone thought of him to be...I had seen him when his façade was off, when he was with the elders. It frightened me that someone I could trust so completely; was so secretive and manipulative. He used Annie, I know. He was like a father to her and he used her to spread his 'warm' façade to the other members since she was so loved by the others.

I have learned too late that it is the honest people who are the most easy to hate.  


"Shin-Shin! Look I found a Chia pet online for Jet-person, Ed only has to add water for   
the grass to grow!!" The wind is knocked out of me as the exuberant Ed tackles me and Ein looks at me with his tongue lolling out. I pick up Ed by the collar of her shirt and place her on the ground beside me. I feel my slanted teal eyes widen as she shows me a picture of a small clay animal growing grass on its body.  


"Ed, that is a chia-pet? It is an animal... not a bonsai like Jet's old ones." Ed nods. Apparently, Vicious chopped up all of Jet's trees when Jet tried to turn in Vicious for a bounty. When I heard that all I could do was laugh, Jet didn't think it was funny though, he didn't cook me dinner.

Ed cartwheels around the room energetically and then leaps up and proceeds to put Tomato on her head and run about the common room, just like the animal on the screen, supposedly it is a horse. I can see why Faye wanted me to stay on Bebop with Jet he needs help with Ed. I remember a conversation I had with Jet one night

***  


_'Shin, want a cigarette?' Jet offers me as he puts one in his mouth and lighting it as the smoke tendrils float upward. I just stare out the Bebop window into space, looking at Mars from space.  
_

_'Sorry, no thanks.' He looks at me and shrugs as he exhales, both of us looking out the Bebop window down at Mars. I don't see how Faye could have returned to Mars, Even if she isn't in Tharsis; Mars brings back so many unpleasant feelings. Seeing Mars only makes me angry.  
_

_'Why did you stay here with me, even after Faye left, why bother to stay with a burned out cop and a hyperactive child?' I turn and his gray blue eyes look into mine and I almost flinch as I am reminded of Vicious' eyes. I formulate and answer as I grin._

_'Faye told me to, truthfully. She felt like if I was around that it would be like old times with you and Spike. That you would just think of me as Spike and so would Ed.' Jet looks at me sternly.   
_

_'Shin, you are not Spike, and I will never think of you as Spike because you have something that Spike didn't have. You have the innocence and strength to realize what is reality, and what is not. You helped me see that, I guess...so did...Vicious...but you are a much different person than he was.' He paused trying to collect his words_

_'You are alive, Spike was just a shell, a empty version of a half erased man who didn't know that there was more than one way to wake up from his dream. There is a reason why my Indian chief friend gave him his name swimming bird, he swam instead of flying, he dreamt instead of living. He was one hell of a guy either way though...I miss the son of a bitch. He may have been a shell but I'm proud to call him a friend.'_  


***

"Shin, man you have been staring out that window for ten minutes now, surely Ganymede is not that pretty to look at." I snap from my stupor to a steaming bowl of bell peppers and beef, without the beef. I sigh, some things I bet never change. I sit down on the vinyl yellow couch across from Jet who is eating silently, Ed is eating while playing a game on her Tomato, Ein is scratching his ears while munching on the same food we are eating. Vicious' dog, now Faye's, used to scratch her mauled ear also. 

"Sorry Jet, my mind has been wandering today, it's unlike me. I'm usually very alert, but now...it is as if—" 

"Your senses are dulled and you don t know why. It happened to me a long time ago too. Alisa is her name, she lives right here too, right here on Ganymede." I see Jet sigh, but surely he can't be thinking this about Faye and I. 

"With all due respect; I don't see what that has to do with me." I state in a very syndicate manner, I tend to revert back into that when I feel defensive I guess. No matter how hard I try cannot deny the fact that the syndicate is a prominent part of my past and how I turned out. Yet, that doesn't seem to matter now, Faye is back on Mars, working, 'trying to collect the pieces of herself she lost,' or so she says. She is an exotic dancer and I hope Jet doesn't find out, she told me to tell him that she is a waitress.  


"Faye. I can tell the way you looked at her, the way your eyes widened every time hers narrowed. It is not too late you know, you can't still go back to her..." I frown, but my eyes let seep through precious teal emotion. I wish Jet would just stay out of my business.

"Jet, drop it." I icily hissed at him with old syndicate perfection. He looked taken aback as I walked by him, out to the deck of Bebop leaving a whirlwind behind me. I stepped out to see the clean air of Ganymede, much better than Venus I am glad we docked here after turning in that bounty. 

The water lapped at the sides of the Bebop hull rhythmically and I felt myself becoming at ease with this satellite. I stand at the precipice of the deck look out at the birds flying, the children laughing on the shore, the people trading, the sun shining in the cerulean sky, complemented by the turquoise sea.

The weather is picture prefect, but I'm not.

There are just too many loose ends that I have not tied. No matter how much a say that Faye left me because she does not love me, I can't let go of that shred of hope that she does, and it is slowing driving me insane. My teal eyes scan the water as I see a fish flop out of the sparkling quilt of blue and back into its depths. This is just too picture-perfect to me. I can't live in a place that always is in a better mood than I. I need to take a nap. Hanging my head low, I begin to wonder if Lin and I just stuck to the adoption agency instead of pick-pocketing in the streets that led us to Spike and Vicious, who led us to the Syndicate, that life would have been better.

I walk back into the rotating hall of bebop, the halls now dark and dingy compared to the outside. I can see why Faye left to go to Phoenix on Mars. Phoenix is a large city, about an hour zip craft flight from Tharsis. In phoenix, it is a lot better than Tharsis, there are no Syndicates and so the murder rate is pretty low. 

I walk back into my room, unseen by Jet and Ed and plop uselessly onto my bed. The worn blanket envelopes my head slightly and I feel my slanted eyes tug together. Just as I was about to fall asleep, a strangely familiar beeping occurred. It is as if the beeping is out of a dream or movie I saw. 

Bip Beeep bip beep beep bip

That is my old Syndicate communicator, no one alive knows that number, it was back when Spike and Vicious were alive, and my brother. I flip off my bed and searched through the cardboard box under my collapsing bed. Very curious and extremely irritated that I just didn't through the old piece of junk away in the first place, I press a button.

"Who are you and how did you get this number?!!" I yell sternly into the communicator, my eyes turning into small blades of green. If this is Daemon trying to recruit me to his new syndicate he has another thing coming. Yet, the voice that answered back was the one voice that I thought I would never hear again.

"Shin, you gave me this number." Short, to the point and cold, yet hints of humor under-laying the ice. I felt the room spin around me and my eyes widen, Vicious is alive. The damn icicle just wont die. I slowly wonder to myself, am I glad he's alive?

-_forever-_

*(*

Hey there guys! Well, instead of a epilogue I thought a prologue type-thing would be super cool cause I really like how the first part ended. Anyway, Shin's POV is basically reviewing what exactly happened ten months after the incident. Faye is on Mars, Shin is with Jet and Vicious is….*Carmen Sandiago music plays 'where in the solar system is Vicious!'*

Ok the next POV is Vicious….of course, cant leave you hangin. Also I really don't know if Shin is in character or not because I don't know his real character since he got….like what three mins air time tops?! *hugs Shin, its ok…you played a critical role in Bebop…or at least in my fic you do!."*

I will be mixing up the POVs but not until chapter three after I do a chapter of Faye's POV too.

Well, I hope you like it, part II opens with a bang! *^^*

REVIEW! And tell me what you think.

~your ff buddy L.O.H.  



	2. Infection

*** = flash back

~*~= POV change

*)|(*= dream sequence

Infection

*(*

It has been months since I have last felt like my old self, and finally I am beginning to feel like my old self once more. It is about time, I was growing tired of just floating day in and day out with that twisted feeling in the pit of my stomach that never let me rest…or forget. Now that feeling has transpired into something new, I don't know what, and I don't care, all I know is that I have a job to do, and that is to find Faye before Vincent does.

"Vicious…you're alive…what do you want?" I hear the slightly quaky voice of Shin spurt through the communicator like oil through a small pipe. I narrow my eyes; I will have to tell him the truth about what has happened in the past months if he is going to help me. Yet, I am not going to let him go that easily.

"Aren't you glad that I am alive?" I probe flatly as my gray eyes roll and the pen in my hand clicks impatiently. Perhaps I should kill Shin like my job requires me to do. It wouldn't be easy, but it would be some fun, most of the people I am hired to kill are fairly easy and boring and aren't of much sport. Half the fun of being a hitman is having at least the slightest pleasure in slicing your prey after a good struggle. Though I hate to admit it; the pleasure in killing people as dwindled severely since ten months ago.

"Whether I care that you are alive or not, doesn't change the fact that you are!" Damn, I thought he would fall for the bait and actually answer my yes or no question. It looks like I will have to make things clear and concise, the way I like them, I don't even know why I asked him that, what do I care of Shin's opinion anyway.

"I need to know where Faye is." I state dryly. Faye…the single four letter name that has haunted me for months, is miraculously alive. The way my lips form her simple, yet flowing name, makes me wonder if the feeling of slight warmth in my chest is of good origin.

"Why should I tell you that? You have been gone for months and now you have the balls to say that you are alive? Do you know how distraught Faye was after she found…" He stopped talking as if he thought he said too much, which he had. Like I said before, Shin doesn't know when to shut up. 

Yet, did Faye actually care about my death? Did she actually grief for me? I guess there is only one way to find out.

"Shin, listen, if I don't figure out where Faye is soon, it will be too late." I frown and narrow my eyes into slits at the thought of not being punctual for such an important date as this.

"What do you mean too late? What is going on? You better tell me now!" Shin's angry young voice charges through the communicator like a stallion. He is worried, he should be, Vincent always finishes a job, no matter who he has to kill. Unless, I can interfere.

"Someone has been hired to kill Faye and yourself." My voice echoes through the communicator like an ominous ballad of death's reaper. Silence is on the other end.

"Who? Who is hired to kill Faye? And who is hired to kill me?!" His voice is now on the edge of panic and rage, he is too emotional to prevent Vincent's onslaught, not to mention other hitmen who have been assigned to kill Faye, and him. 

"I have been hired to kill you. As for Faye, that information doesn't matter, I need to know where she is." My silver hair rustles in my icy, drafty run-down apartment; I sit alone on the cold floor, in a meditating position as I quip into the comm.

"You have been hired to kill me…you're a fucking hitman Vicious!! You have sunk low." I chuckle lowly into the communicator, an old syndicate laugh. I hear something crash in the background, I think I scared him. Good, he should be, if he doesn't give m my information soon I will be forced to see him in person.

"I will kill you if you do not tell me where Faye is." I pause for effect. "I know where you are, how to kill you and how to cover it up." I hiss venomously. Although I know that I never assist in Syndicate killings, which I am positive that this killing is. How else would it match-up? Daemon is an insane power-hungry Syndicate leader who would love to see the killers of his brother brought in and slaughtered.

"…Vicious has Daemon hired you and some other guy to kill Faye and I?" I frown, he was in the syndicate; he should have known that by now. I think I might have overestimated Shin's comprehension skills. Daemon didn't come to me personally, My employer, Mr. Kaze, told me that a Syndicate executive was handing out jobs to many of the employers, Vincent and I are the chosen assassins by Mr. Kaze.

"Tell me where she is Shin, the only way to stop a hit man is with a better hitman." I feel my knuckles turn white around the comm.. I take an inaudible deep breath to calm myself; Shin has always run my patience dry.

"I am going to tell her myself, she doesn't need to know you exist." My eyes narrow into razor slits, somehow the very nerve of him going instead of me rakes across my bones and makes my blood boil.

"That cop and the kid are no doubts targets for hitmen too. The syndicates make killings complete by killing everyone lose to them. You know that." I barked harshly though the communicator. If anyone knew that Shin would. 

"If I find out you harmed Faye in any way I will make sure your funeral is a closed casket. She is in Phoenix, near Tharsis, She lives in a place called the Indigo Moon."

I smirk at the win, yet the battle itself is far from over. Tharsis, the capital of the newly rebuilt Red Dragon Syndicate and its new rival the Black Falcon, is very close to Phoenix. 

"Vicious, another thing I never got to ask you, why did you kill my brother?" I felt a wave of confusion sweep over me. I didn't kill Lin, Gren did. Did the Elders tell him, before I killed them, that I killed Lin? Did the Elders deliberately lie to Shin about his older brother's death? It wouldn't surprise me either way, the Elders wanted people to hate me, what better way than to spread a lie that I killed one of the most respected members in the entire Syndicate? I clench my fist; this is one thing that is best not to be delved into.

"Thank you for the information Shin...unless you want to endanger that cop and the kid more, don't come to Mars, stay on Ganymede." I warn, tying to shake him off of the unanswered question.

"Hey wait, how did you know I'm on Gany—" I shut off the comm. And stand up off of the cold, concrete floor. The sunset filters through the dingy and smudged window pane. A feeling floods through me that I cannot describe it except the fact that this feeling makes me want to clean off the window and let the blinding sun stream in. This feeling is absurd, why should I care if the sun is out, or if Shin isn't dead yet…or if Faye is alive. 

Then it hits me like a demented, ironic cliché, the entire reason I have been alive is because of the sacrifice that she made, and now she is alive. I feel like I have wasted ten months of my life. I try to shrug off this new feeling of revelation as I strip off my clothing and walk into the mildew infested shower. I step into the shower and turn the knob up all the way hot. I step in and let the heavy water beat down on my head so my silver hair wilts down in front of my eyes.

Something about this hired killing doesn't add up. Why doesn't the syndicate make them a bounty? Why would you hire a hitman to kill the person you want to kill for revenge? I frown as I pick up the Dawn dishwashing soap and pour some into my hand. I rub it across my scarred chest, my legs and my nether areas and lather a small amount in my drenched hair. Daemon is probably either lazy or too busy to really care who kills them or not. I quickly rinse the suds from my person and exit the shower wrapping the towel, which doubles as a carpet, around my waist. I step into my crumbling bedroom to see Shin's info-card on the floor; I pick it up and secure it in the pocket of my pants.

My pale lips downturn into a small frown, usually Syndicates hire more than one person to kill someone; that is why I was paid so lousy to kill Shin, only 4 million woolongs. If that is the case, someone might get to Faye before Vincent, and that would not sit well with me at all. 

I pause mid-step as I try to shake her from my head, perhaps I should just try to sleep a little while; I have a long flight to Mars from Callisto. I slip into my bedroom and look at the lopsided bed, the mattress with threadbare sheets is half hanging off the rusted frame. I sit down on the bed, as the bed creaks violently, my wet hair flops listlessly into my sight. Strands of silver filter the cold gray background and I all I can think of is her.

I fall on my back and let my wet hair hit the cold blankets and pillow. My narrow gray eyes stare at the ceiling and I try to figure out what exactly this tugging feeling inside of me is, that makes me feel warm in a frozen land. Why is this feeling even present, what I have I done to deserve such a feeling? Is it a burden, is it a gift? If it a gift what will come of this feeling, of this emotion? It is like the desert wind on the sand, it is shaping me slowly into another form…

I close my eyelids and let the darkness consume me, I no longer enjoy nightmares.

Nightmares are just places where the inevitable torments you while you have no control, like a coward with a hidden stiletto. I hate cowards as much as I hate pawns, and I hate not being in control, that is why when I fall asleep that I want nothing to happen… nothing at all. Faye's face flashes in my mind, and I know deep down that she is not nothing at all.

I close my eyes quickly, just wanting to get some rest.

*)|(*

'Vicious…you're here.' She is standing there, in the door of my Callisto apartment, her violet hair flipping and blowing and her green eyes twinkling. 

'Yes, I can see that you are too.' My legs are burning to move to her, and I can no longer stand; I walk over to her, almost subconsciously. My hand like magnets, I cant stop, in all of the other situations I would have turned and walked away, but here with her…I cant just walk away. I put my hands on either side of her face, her eyes shimmering like molten emeralds. 

'Vicious, I want you to meet someone, Shin my fiancé.' I turn behind me and Shin is ominously there, ginning from ear to ear in a tuxedo with his hair pushed back. I feel a great surge of rage rise through me as I am tempted to take my katana and run him through with it. My eyes narrow into gray metal slits, she only came to say goodbye, I whip around to face Faye again, to demand an explanation.

Yet, it is Julia, standing there like a concrete angel, her endless eyes boring into me.

'Goodbye Vicious.' She beckons I feel blood spurt through me, as my sluggish reaction takes me longer to whip around to see my back-stabbing attacker. 

I turn around to only see Spike, holding a white smoking gun; Faye and Shin stand behind him, smiling along with the cop, the kid, and Gren. And only words are spoken

'You are the villain Vicious, and all the villains die in the end.' I feel my eyes widen vehemently as Spike lifts the gun up once more, to the exact place in my head he shot me prior, my limbs are dead, unable to move. I see the floating faces in front of me smile as my stomach twists in one last knot, and my eyes narrow one last time before the trigger is pulled.

*)|(*

I shoot up in bed like an old childhood jack-in-the box, my wet bangs plastered to my forehead with sweat and water. I have got to stop having that dream…that nightmare...I never would have thought that a stupid dream, a stupid _meaningless_ dream could make my heart beat so fast. How could I let a simple dream have such an impact on me like this, it is pathetic. I am Vicious, I kill people for a living, and I have nightmares that make my blood boil and my body writhe in my sheets.

This is so fucked up. 

I get up hurriedly from the bed, making sure I still have Shin's info-card; that is one thing you do not want to be laying around. I quickly dress in a dark gray collared shirt and lightweight black pants and look at my reflection in the shards of broken mirror. My gray eyes stare back at me, the same, yet different in some way then yesterday. 

"Why am I doing this? Why am I going after her? This doesn't make any sense… I shouldn't care what happens to her. I shouldn't care if she is alive…I shouldn't even care that she is not with Shin, but unfortunately I do." I step away from the mirror, trying to forget the way my eyes changed when I thought of her name. I step through my bathroom, and walk into a different door that leads to the living room, my katana hilt laying proudly on the cold concrete floor. I see a cockroach skittle across the hard surface.

"I wonder how many people I have killed with this katana. I wonder if all of those insignificant deaths are going to haunt me someday." I pick up the gleaming black sheathe and grasp the hilt with my long fingers. The noise of unsheathing the blade rings throughout the small room, echoing cleanly off the walls.

The long blade reflects the cold sunlight flawlessly, except where I used the blade to deflect bullets. The bullets always nicked the blade and I had to re-sharpen it. Although none of the manual sharpening jobs made the blade look precisely perfect again. My silver hair is now tied in a low horsetail. My communicator is in the pocket of my long black cloak which I wrap around myself. I attach my katana to my waist and grab the key to my zip-craft.

"I should be going now." I float noiselessly to the door of the apartment and open the door, raising an irritated eyebrow as the failing doorknob falls off the door and lands with a loud clang to the concrete floor. It never fails, I want to make a quick exit and the doorknob falls off. 

I narrow my eyes at the steel irritancy and step over it with an exaggerated step and made my way down the stairwell to the lobby. I flow past the hung-over drunkards in the lobby under the low, spinning ceiling fan; trying to ignore the lobbyist who I would love more than anything to castrate. He enjoys wearing shirts with Rock bands on them and getting under my very impatient skin. For some inexplicable reason, he thinks my hair color is the most absurd thing he has ever seen. The funny thing is, he doesn't even have a clue of who I once was…in fact not even Mr. Kaze knows that was the Vicious of the Red Dragon Syndicate.

"Hey you! I thought Silver haired freaks never came out during the day—" I jam the hilt of my katana into the nether regions of the fat, arrogant nerd and walk out the door; there are some very stupid, arrogant people in Callisto. With a sadistic smile I drift briskly to the door of my gray, wedge shaped, zip craft with scissor Lamborghini doors and get behind the drivers seat. Frost covers the spaceshield(windshield) and the windows. I brush the white nuisance away.

I turn on the zip-craft, as it responds with a high pitched hiss and a low hum. I press on the accelerator and I take off from the parking lot and exit the dead stratosphere of Callisto with a thankful sneer. 

_-Blinded mind-_

*(*

  


hey I am soo sorry about not updating, I feel so bad, but I have been busy with my stupid family/friends/math......in that order.....I am so sorry I will update sooner :`(

Well how was the Vicious chapter? Yeah he is softening up, and he better be too, so I don't want people saying he is OOC for no reason, he has plenty of reason, but because he is Vicious, he is just a little slower than the rest. 

AN….pimpin satan I bet you think I am the biggest loser if you picked up on that small detail XD I couldn't resist.

Also…Faye's POV will be next, then I will have mixed POVs per chapter. Probably only two per chapter, the other POV will be covered in the next Okies?! *^^*

One more thing about the 'flashbacks'; instead of the person actually thinking about what happened to him/her before(past tense), for my insane, illogical purposes, the person will actually be re-living the events, so the verb tense will stay present, the time just got rewinded….does that make any sense? Is 'rewinded' a word? -.-()

Anyway, on with the exciting part two…..VAMOS! 

Please review, I have gotten so many wonderful reviews, it has been a really bad week and your reviews have helped brighten it up *^^*

~your ff buddy L.O.H.


	3. Detection

Detection

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"Hey Faye, cya tomorrow night, and bring that cute Andy guy too!" I mentally groan at the mention of Andy's name, all the girls swoon over him like he holds up the damn planet Mars or something. Celia should just keep her damn mouth shut, I am not dating Andy, I just happened to bump into him…besides, I have lost my fervor for dating…ever since ten months ago. I sadly smile, I hate to admit it to myself, but no one, not even Shin or Andy, compares to…him.

"Celia if you want that samurai idiot Andy; you can have his ass." I tiredly sigh as I put on my red jacket over my vinyl black outfit. The style is the same as my old yellow one; the only thing that changed was the color. Mac, the owner of the 'Neon Line' strip club, decided that if I wore a black outfit that I would attract more men as 'biker bitch' as he referred to it. Anyway, I promptly slapped him, but only before actually taking his advice, I need all the money I can get if I am going to start over in this city. 

I step out of the dressing room with my small handbag, too tired to say goodbye to anyone, and walk out the dark back door into the ebony entrenched alley of east side Phoenix. Lonely twin lampposts shine enigmatically into the night, barely piercing the asphyxiating feeling that I am being followed. 

I feel the bulge of my pistol against my thigh and I feel confidence radiate through me once more, I may have lost someone I loved, but that sure has hell doesn't mean that someone can just take advantage of me! What I do for a living is different, I am not a prostitute, I drew that line a long time ago, back when I got my memories back, that I promised would try to preserve that innocence and hope. 

A tired smile slips onto my face, one I have not worn in a while. I remember I used to live in Tokyo Japan, but we moved to the spacious, beautiful house in Southern Italy, where I was beginning to learn Italian. I grin as I remember that I spoke in Japanese anyway and my Italian teacher would make me learn extra words, like the seasons, and weather and the months. I wonder if I have totally lost that carefree, happy part of me, or it is just too jaded and exhausted to continue. I exit the elliptic alley, uneventfully, the darkness replaced by a musty glow of the dirty street lights.

My stiletto boots click staccato against the worn concrete as I walk the half a block to my brothel, Indigo Moon, I suddenly feel alone, yet watched. The hairs prick up on the back of my neck. I narrow my faded emerald eyes as walk faster towards my brothel; Sonya and Yuki are still out in their outfits, on the dismal, dimly-lit corner, looking for any 'potentials'. As I turn the corner, the normal, non-sexual, voice of Sonya, pipes up.

"Hey, some handsome, yet creepy jackass was asking about you, I think he has like silvery hair, although it looked a little blue to me, anyway he is looking for you." I felt my heart speedup like a greyhound's after a track race, there is just no way…She must have seen some really drunk guy…that couldn't be _him_. I mean even after all that Indian chief-witch doctor guy said about how his star might _not_ have fallen; it still isn't possible he is alive. Sonya's big brown eyes narrowed into a pensive state, Yuki just looking around frowning at the speeding zip crafts. 

I feel a knot constrict itself in the pit of my stomach, like butterflies only something much more. It has been ten months since I last felt an emotion as strong as this really, since I felt any emotion worth getting worked up over. I immediately hand Sonya my jacket that I had over my shoulders and sprint up to the brothel, It's been so long since I have last sprinted like this, like the time I remembered where I lived. I feel the smoggy wind rustle through my stressed violet locks as I feel my stiletto heels pound quickly against the concrete up to the crumbling stoop of the Indigo moon.

I burst though the front double doors, creating quite a stir, but I could careless, I never really liked the people in this brothel anyway. I stumble as I turn the corner in an emotional haste. On the shaky landing I jump up to my second floor apartment. I let myself catch my breath as reality sinks in. 

'C'mon Faye did you really expect him to be in here?! He cant even get in without a key, and guys are not allowed unaccompanied into a room, so he would have been spotted. And even if that all happened, Prin would have heard an intruder and attacked, causing Carlos, the landlord, to go crazy and come up to see what was going on. Faye, you just got worked up over nothing…nothing at all he isn't here.' 

He is dead. Vicious, the silver haired enigma that wanted everyone to believe he was cold and murderous, just to make his suffering and his revenge seem easier. Too bad I saw right through that, when I close my eyes I can still feel the sight sensation of his pale lips against mine, and his flowing words echoing in my ears. There is no way he was as murderous as he wanted everyone to believe. I take out the key in my handbag and open all three heavy-locks. Instead of being greeted by an over excited-irritated one-eared dog, I am greeted to silence and clammy darkness. 

I feel the weight of the glock against my thigh as I step cautiously inside, in spite of all my logical thinking, and feel for the light-switch. I don't get the chance, all of the sudden I feel my arm twisted roughly, tightly behind me and I am flipped haphazardly against the wall, my back and head hit the plaster wall. A knife blade is held to my throat as the face of my attacker is still cloaked in darkness.

"Fuck, get off me!" I side-kick whoever in the hell decided to ambush me, I feel the attacker groan and wheeze heavily as I see the silhouette of the body crouched on the floor in my apartment, scrambling to regain his footing. I quickly un-strap my gun and click the safety, but too late, the man already has his out, recovering from the attack too early and holds his gun at my forehead, far enough away so that I can't kick him. I suddenly feel a wave of powerlessness wash over me, had I been tricked? This obviously isn't Vicious, who is he and why does he want to kill me?!

"Faye Valentine, I don't care who you are, how old you are, or what in the hell you did, all I know is that you are worth 8 million woolongs and I need them." The sharp fiery voice sneers through the darkness. The safety clicks, and I feel like this whole death thing wasn't nearly as dramatic as Spike made it out to be. I just don't think I want to die here right now, if I could go up against a whole Syndicate, I can go up against this idiot. Even though I'm alone, after what happened 10 months ago, I still have the right to live.

"Sorry pal, but today isn't your lucky day." I laugh and he sneers and pulls the trigger, I dive to the right, with both arms extended, fire twice with my smoking gun before I land in a tuck-roll. I see the man's knees buckle beneath him and he lands face down on my living room floor. Direct hit. Something still bothers me…why was this guy trying to kill me?! I flip on the lights to see muddy footprints on the floor, the man was dressed in a trench coat and is bleeding all over my floor! I just swept it too…

I sigh, a long sigh. I got this worked up about some hitman-bounty hunter. I look over the guy's body; sure enough, blue hair with silver highlights, and a bullet-hole through his skull. I notice his legs and sides are bleeding, and that reminds me of Princess. I quickly holster my gun and step over the dead guy to my bedroom. 

"Doggie…come here if you are alive…" I look in my cramped, dusty bedroom, on the bedside-table is a picture of Bebop: Spike, Ed, Jet, and Ein, a small picture of Shin, and a larger one of …_him_. I had Ed hook me up with a mug-shot when Shin was taking a nap after the incident. He looks really pissed off in that picture, his hair is in disarray, and his eyes look as if he wanted to burn the camera. It makes me reluctantly inwardly smile each time I look at it. 

I pause when I hear a scratching noise coming from my closet, I open the door to reveal Princess with a plastic bag bound around her face… she is flipping about the three foot by three foot closet, scratching at the heavy bag like a break dancer with epilepsy . 'What a sick-o suffocating my dog!' I take off the bag, careful not to touch her missing ear; she gets all pissed when someone does that. 

"There you go Prin…now I'm gonna call Shin about that asshole who tried to kill me." The dog looks up with a weary thankful expression. Then she bolts up immediately and starts wagging her stump of a tail. She hates Shin…why would she be happy about him? Then I feel the hairs on the back of my neck prick up again…did I not kill that guy?!

"I cannot believe you still have that dog…" That voice…it cant be real…it must be a dream. I put a finger to my wounded neck and feel a small bit of blood trickle as it stings. No, dreams don't hurt, that means…I whip around to face this enigma, this apparition. 

"I was late, I thought he would have taken you by now, I am glad he didn't." Silver haired, katana wielding, those deep gray eyes that I thought I would never see again. His alabaster skin, the slight smirk plays on his face like a taunting veil. 

An overwhelming emotion surge through my veins, one that makes me want to cry and laugh at the same time. A feeling that makes me want to scream and curse him and hug and hold him simultaneously. How dare he stay alive and not tell me? I cant believe after all these months of feeling so isolated and lost, that he is back, the one man who I thought deserted me…is actually alive. But why keep it a secret?

"Vicious…" I try to hold my composure, I try my hardest not to run into his arms I need to hold my ground…what happened to my tough façade that I could hold against anyone?! The only person I can't hold it against is him. As he takes a step foreword, I can see his face fully. The light from the lamp that I turned on glimmers off his silver hair and his once cold gray eyes, concealing an emotion I can't put a finger on. My breath hitches suddenly as his eyes widen slightly.

"I see he hurt you…I wont be late again." He takes another step closer to me; the dog bolts away into the hallway of the apartment building. I barely notice Prin as he closes the gap between us to a few inches. I look up to him, my hand going to my scratch on my neck from the guy's knife. 

He takes a square of fabric from his black cloak and presses it over my wound gingerly, his slightly warm hand brushing against my hand. A few of his silver locks intertwine with my violet ones as he leans down, I feel my heart beating so hard, so fast that must hear it. My stomach is a hot air balloon, and I am in the sky flying. He is here, he is alive….after ten months…he came back. 

"You're…alive." I can't hold it anymore, I fling myself childishly into his unexpecting person, enveloping my arms around his smooth yet muscular chest, just to make sure he is real, that he is warm and not some ghost. 

I feel arms wrap around my body, enclosing me slowly, almost unsurely as I foolishly bury my face in his gray-shirted, warm, chiseled chest that I missed for far too long. I feel the same feeling of belonging rise up within me. For a timeless moment, I feel like nothing is wrong, that everything is perfect, everything is right with the one person I never would have expected to see again. I am happy, for the first time in ten months.

"It would take a lot more than a little bullet wound to kill me." His voice vibrates dryly, with an encrypted sense of humor. I then think of the man with the silver highlights, and why he tried to kill me. I remove myself from his chest, trying my hardest not to blush at the sight of his slightly smirking face.

"Yeah…why didn't you come back till now…I thought you really had died…" I let my eyes sink to the floor as he sighs slightly.

"I didn't know until a few days ago that you were alive either." He states matter-of-factly as I tilt my head up and stare into his magnetic gray blue eyes. He leans into me and whispers something in my ear…my heart skips a beat as I feel his warm breath radiating throughout my ear.

"I came back, to make sure you will stay alive." My mind reels…what is happening and…does he really like me that much to want to protect me?

"Why was that man after me? You know what's going on, tell me." It cant be that bad, perhaps a few loan sharks are after me and Vicious just so happened to hear about it. I mean, there is no way that Vicious is involved somehow, he changed…I know it. I look into his eyes for silent reassurance, but all I find are floating blue puzzle pieces in an endless sea of gray. 

"The Red Dragon Syndicate has been sending out their hit-lists to employers, obviously, a number of hitmen have been hired to kill you…and Shin. It would not surprise me if a bounty was dropped on that imbecile cop friend of yours either." He doesn't look at me straight in the eyes, he looks almost right through me, a strange feeling comes over me and I slowly back up from his ominous expression. 

"How do you know all this?" I say suspiciously, although probably more breathlessly than I intended. I push my violet hair behind my ears and a few silver strands criss-cross his forehead. I see him, a surge of emotion flashes in his eyes, turning them a tint of blue before turning straight back. A frown etches onto his chiseled features, I do not like the way his face has now turned hard.

"I have been hired to kill Shin, and a man named Vincent has been hired to kill you." I clutch my fists together; I knew there was something amiss. He hasn't changed, he hasn't become humane…he kills people for a job! He takes out people for a fucking cash-card. I cant believe I just fell into his arms…so cliché, so romantic novel stereotype. 

"You…how dare you come here! You haven't changed you are still a mindless killer! Have you ever done something in your life that hasn't involved killing someone else?!" I narrow my hard emerald eyes into slits as he stands up straighter and peers into my eyes, looking for fault, searching for something.

"You haven't changed either. You sell your body for money, how is that not as destructive? Whether you want to admit it or not, there is little that can be changed in this world." He hisses coolly at me, like a winter wind. I feel my blood boil and my heart sink

"I'm a dancer not a prostitute you ass! Besides, at least I don't hurt people, and at least I have a fucking identity! I am Faye Valentine! Who are you? You don't have anything… except your stupid sword and meaningless pride!" The moment I yelled those words into the blankness of my bedroom, I regretted them. His gray eyes widened and hardened, cracking like diamonds. His mouth turned into a flat, almost invisible line, his hair hangs limply. He looks so frustrated and angry. After a moment his mouth opens ominously, for a minute I thought he was going to kill me.

"Inverno. My name is Vicious Inverno and I do still have something." He narrows his eyes calmly, and flies from my apartment like an apparition, like a bodiless ghost. I see Prin look at me like a confused child whose parents just fought. I slumped down on my bed, cradling my head in my hands. Warm crystal tears pool in my eyes, tears that would be of no use shed.

"Inverno…Italian for winter... yet so close to Inferno. I've fallen for a guy whose last name is winter." I frown at the sheer simplicity of the whole situation, am I asking too much? Am I asking for the flowers to bloom during winter, or the icicles to melt, or the temperature to be 87? Vicious is not like Spike was, or Shin, he is totally different, but that isn't bad... I just want the idiot to give up murdering people, is that too much to ask? 

Vicious and Spike were affected differently by the Syndicate...and Julia.

Perhaps he's trapped doing one of the things he was trained to do, create ice confict. Winter is not only ice and gray. Winter is more complex than the other seasons, you have to look through the frosty panes to depict the true meaning behind the season winter. What the meaning of winter is I don't know. I just want to enjoy the snow. Life could be easier and I like a guy who was already warm and caring, but I think fate deemed that to be too easy. Yeah, I just had to love a guy whose hobbies are lopping off heads of his enemies and kissing girls after death duels. I almost laughed at that thought; a syndicate killer stole my heart away. 

_-You are singing-_

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Hey there! Sorry this chapter took so long, I have had a horrible week, anyway here is the fic chapter I hope you like it, I wrote it late one night so if it has grammatical errors in it, I am sorry. Anyway, I will respond to reviews next chapter and there will be split POVs.

Anyway this will be a short AN: im too tired to write more.

BTW my Inu fic is on hold for now...ill come back to it when school ends...*^^*

  



	4. Collection

 SEQ CHAPTER h r 1Collection

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_'Shin...do you know who the enemy is... the man who killed your brother.' She prods smoothly, I'm alone in a dark room, a single woman stands before me with a man behind her. Julia stands there like an ice sculpture pose, ethereal, poised, signet and cold. She holds a gun to me, Spike's Jericho...He now stands behind her, his hands around her supportive, but, his eyes aren't on me or she...his eyes are looking elsewhere as if not liking the situation..._

_'You know what to do Shin, in order for you to get the girl, you need to get rid of the villain..go finish what Spike started.' Her voice lilts across the room with a purpose and hiss. I feel sweat drip down my brow.  _

'_Vicious.' I state with a confirmed tone, my mouth dry, my eyes wide. Vicious the villain..._

_'Dammit Shin!_'_ I whip behind me to see Lin, standing there horrified._

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"Hey Shin, who were you talking to in there?" I shoot up with a start...did I really fall asleep? Everything after the conversation with Vicious hours ago was a blur. The lump in my throat immediately clears and my slanted eyes return to there normal size after convulsing from wide and narrow. I knocked my cardboard box over when he told me he was hired to kill me. I don't know why, but an unspeakable panic filled me when he clipped those words, as if my life was going to disappear.

"No one Jet." I hastily place back the cardboard box, putting the communicator in my pocket, I know Vicious' number, E16V3, and so I can call him if that matters any. I open the door to reveal Jet and a woman beside him, with cropped black hair and sepia eyes. She looks to be in her early thirties and has an elegant glow around her.

"Shin this is Alisa, she will be staying on Bebop with us from now on." Elisa, that woman that Jet mentioned is ironically here. She looks familiar, but I don't know from where...but I swear I have seen her face before.

"Hey there Alisa welcome aboard." I try to make my painted teal eyes happy and light, but there is just so much looming over my head right now, my instinct beckons me to go to Mars, but my brain warns that I might put Jet and Ed in danger over my adventure.

"Hello Shin Tashjian, has Jet been driving you crazy?" I laughed lightly, in spite of her figuring out my last name, I could have sworn that I didn't tell him or Faye...perhaps Spike told him or something. I exit the doorway of my room and walk with Jet and Alisa to the common room.

"Ed wants to play with the pretty ladyyyyyyyyyyyy!" I whistled and put my hands behind my head as Ed summons all her strength to leap thirty feet across the room and land clinging to Elisa's legs. Unable to move, a flash of annoyance and humor spread across her face as she leaned down and proceeded to tickle Ed. Personally, I never knew Ed was ticklish until Ed jumped three times her body height in the air and proceeded to laugh like a banshee across the room.She can handle kids, that is a plus, now Ed wont be so bored because Faye isn't here...

She is hunted by hitmen...and I wish I was there to help her.

"Jet I need to talk to you–" I was cut off mid sentence

"You know Jet I am extremely hungry, let's have some dinner and chat, I'd like to do some catching up...I mean, since we left on a bad note." She leaned up against Jet in a loving way, and I ran a hand through my pushed back hair, She is so nice and kind, yet so familiar, and so mysterious...Did Jet go pick her up? Or did she bump into him while getting some groceries or something... nothing makes sense. I'm glad Jet has someone to talk to who is a bit sane.

"Alright I'll whip up some bell peppers and Beef...with actual beef." He walks with a bounce in his step to the kitchen and puts on his apron, I steal a glance over to Alisa, her eyes are filled with an unexplainable emotion, grief, guilt, duty perhaps...if the sky weren't blue I'd say she was hiding something...but then again...aren't we all?

"Pretty Lady, my Ed paint your toenails, Pleeeeeeasssssee?" Ed squeals at the top of her lungs as she attempts to re-latch onto her legs, Alisa dodges with a fighter's grace. Ed misses and slides, in a discombobulated shuffle into the corridor to Faye's room. She emerges as a hyperactive raccoon with an assortment of blue shades of nail polish. Thank goodness I'm a guy, I could just imagine the horror of Ed trying to paint your nails day in and out. 

"Why don't you go paint the dogs nails?" I impute humorously, I see an eyebrow quirk from Alisa as Ed proceeds to chase the terrified Welsh corgi around the Bebop common room with an open bottle of nail polish splattering on the vinyl yellow couch upholstery. If you cant beat them, watch them beat someone else.

"So Shin, what has happened to Jet these past years, he seems…almost more cheerful, but I don't see why." I turn to her, she reminds me of someone, sweet serene, yet sad. Her sepia eyes search me for an answer.

"Many things have happened to Jet in the past three years…actually a lot has happened to a lot of people." I pause to run my head through my pushed back hair, my teal eyes focusing on a tile on the floor near her feet. "As far as I know, Ed left for a while then his friend Spike was killed, which only left him and Faye." I pause as I see her eyes taper…"After a while Ed came back Faye went looking for Spikes killer, and I was ord—trying to find him as well. One thing led to another and now I am here on Bebop, Faye out somewhere." I plop my self down on the vinyl chair, aware of the blue splatter marks. She sits opposite me on the couch, looking at me with a glint in her eye, one that reminds me of the Syndicates interrogators.

"What of Spike Spiegel's killer, is he alive?" I swallow a lump in my throat…wait…I never said Spikes last name…

"Presumed dead." I lick my lips and spurt out a short straight answer. She leans foreword and I lean back, draping my arms on the back of the couch, Ed's squeals can me heard faintly from the room, in spite of the hissing of the stove and the whirring of the looming ceiling fan. Like sickles connected to a perpetual vicious cycle.

"I see…sorry if it was like I was prying, I really am too curious for a woman of my age." She chuckles softly, I laugh with her, in spite of a minute sense of foreboding, I need to tell Jet about Vicious and what he said…and I need to figure out why Alisa can figure out names of people like me, Syndicate members' last names are usually confidential…I don't even know Vicious' last name. Silence envelopes me, even though the ceiling fan slices above me…I loose my head in thought.

"Dinner time!" Jet comes out, apron and all, and sits next to Alisa on the couch. I look at the steaming plate of food, yet all my appetite is dry and empty, I pick up my chopsticks anyway. Yet before I can talk, Alisa speaks up

"So Jet, who is this Faye Valentine I keep hearing about?" I wonder why she waited to ask Jet this, but I suppose she feels more familiar with Jet

"A purple haired green eyed Shrew she is a bounty hunter, a money stealer, complainer, ill tempered, has a bad attitude…every man's nightmare." He crosses his thick arms and frowns, but I see his mouth even into a thin smile. 

"Where is she now?" I pull my lips into a frown, she is very curious I don't completely trust her, even if she is a good friend of Jet's and Jet doesn't make friends with Syndicate mobsters and such. I inwardly laugh at the contradictory statement I made in my mind…nonetheless I cannot trust her, women can be as deceitful and as destructive as men, Julia is a good example.

"She told me she took a waitress job on earth…why?" He looks at her with a curious glance I keep my eyes on the table in front of me picking up my plate of food.

"Because she isn't on Earth, she is on Mars, in the city of Phoenix." I dropped my plate, food splattering everywhere, my slanted eyes wide…how does she know so much...I am the only one besides Vicious who know she is even there! Alisa's presence here is not a coincidence…

            Rain, I suppose, is a change for the better from the goddamned hail on Callisto. I walk tall in the rain as my silver hair mats and slicks itself to my forehead and the back of my neck. The rest drapes around me like a veil of liquid steel. My titanium eyes narrow pensively as I recall Daemon's face...so familiar...where do I know him? Then my mind bounces the words she said to me...that I didn't have an identity and my pride was meaningless. My eyes shift to my katana at my waist...

            Why am I even doing this? Then I remember why I should be doing this...I'm doing it to find out what the Red Dragon Syndicate is up to. Why hire hitmen to take out Faye and Shin instead of the more inexpensive and easier ordeal of a bounty. Why bother keeping it private? Then it hits me...I don't have an identity...Everyone thinks I'm dead…or do they?

Is this a trap to lure me out, to figure out where I am?

"Daemon...he looks familiar also now that I think of it." I try to trigger my sharp mind to figure out why he looks familiar. Is he out for revenge, is he out for a fight, or is it something that is much more different…perhaps he wants to use me for the Syndicates disposal once more. 

            I look up from across the rainy street to Faye's apartment window, shaded, but silhouettes of people are clearly shown in the shade. I pause in the rain, people with umbrellas float past me like leaves in a stream…there is someone in her apartment. I narrow my titanium shards and utter a small curse. My liquid silver hair flaps behind me and my black cloak billows thickly as I bound across the street, my long legs fully extended. 

            I run into the alley beside the building, bending my legs and jumping with the precision of a true assassin upwards to the wet ladder of the slick fire escape, propelling forewords with my swinging well-built arms. I flip midair and unsheathe my katana mid-flip. I come upon her small apartment window. My katana is in my left hand at my side…its blade dripping with silent rain. Frowning, I take two steps back and charge full force at the glass window. I feel the impact of the screaming glass only slightly as I dive into a roll and kneel on the linoleum floor. Twin shards of titanium search for the intruder. A slight faint sign of foreboding is overpowered by the controlled cunning and fighter instincts.

"Hey who are you?" I tilt my head to the right shards of titanium sharpen at the amateur. Yet, this is one person I did not expect, this man with blonde curly hair and the smirk is an ignorant replica of my old acquaintance Spike. I notice he has a katana also, only it is in poor condition and I bet he doesn't know how to use it.

"How pathetic." I spring like a stealth jaguar and whip my body to face him; his eyes don't show fear or readiness, just an aloofness that makes my blood curdle. I swing my katana in a one-handed upwards strike, he dodges the blow barely, taking a swatch of his clothing with me. 

"Hey, no fair I wasn't expecting a fight!" He unsheathes his katana, which is shorter than mine by a few inches. He swiftly charges and I parry his attack with a practiced ease. With a small tilt of a lip, I fling his weapon, cart wheeling through the air, sticking into the wall behind me. The blade sings and vibrates in the drywall next to the spectator dog; who almost seems to be enjoying that the fight is going in my favor. 

            He then takes his leg and swings it at my side, as it connects glaringly, I manage to take my elbow and jab him in the stomach. He doubles over and I take a fraction to recuperate from the unexpected blow. From his doubled over state I flip him up in the air by the collar of his shirt and throw him onto the ground, my katana at his throat instantly.

"Hey—Ok—you win already…now let me up!" What kind of assassin is this? Is he playing stupid? Does he not know what kind of situation he is in? I hear a noise to my right, towards the doorway the dog was standing in, wagging her stump of a tail.

"Andy what in he hell did you do?!" The shrill brassy voice of Faye floods through my ears as I allow my gray-blue eyes to gaze upon her though my peripheral vision. She is in her bathrobe and her hair is up in a towel-turban. Her jade eyes are wide with surprise, mine widen with confusion, if this is not an assassin but someone she knows…then she must be still hung up on Spike.

"You know this imbecile…" I remove my katana from his throat swiftly and sheathing it, if I need to, I can defeat him without a weapon. He stands up with a cocky tilt of a chin.

"Of course she knows me, I'm Andy the Samurai. You must be new here 'cause I'm Famous here in Phoenix. I own a restaurant!" He annoys me. I grit my teeth as my patience wears thin, there must be some mistake, his nonchalant attitude and his appearance is resembling too much of Spike, and I can tell that she notices that I know that.

"Andy, can you leave…NOW?" She growls and points out towards the door in the other room, He brushes dust off of his shoulder and plucks his katana from the wall and sheathes it with an extravagant flourish. I roll my eyes. The next action takes me by surprise, he takes Faye's hand, and kisses it lightly as he leaves; the heat of my blood rises a few degrees as I pretend with my cool façade to not care.

"I see you still like Spike, by the company you surround yourself with." I spit dryly as I look at her expression on her face, the dog smiling at door where Andy left.

"Of course I liked Spike…he was…a good comrade, Andy has little to do with it, I met him when Spike was still alive." She sat down proudly, in a wooden chair that somehow eluded being destroyed in the fight. I could not ignore the way my heart tightened when she said she liked Spike, my old rival, the man I killed, the guy who stole my first lover and won't leave me alone.

"I know why you and Shin are on the Syndicate's hit-list." Her emerald eyes shift upwards to me with curiosity, and I feel my heart speed up a fraction. Her emerald eyes, even unadorned with makeup, are sparkling and entrancing, her full, pink lips done in a small circle.

"Why?! What did I do this time?" I narrow my gray blue eyes and my fist clenches unnoticed by my side. Her emerald eyes looking up at me, the terrycloth bathrobe draped about her like a cloud.

"They want to kill you so when I find out you are dead, it will lure me out of stealth so the Syndicate can find me. Although, things have not gone according to plan. They apparently do not know I am a hitman, especially the hitman assigned to kill Shin. So their 'surprise killing' was foiled because you two are aware of the hitmen." I pause waiting for her reaction.

"So you are saying this whole thing is to lure you out of hiding? I thought they thought you were dead! This makes no fucking sense…Why use us as lures?" She stands up, the chair behind her crumples to the floor, her eyes narrow in a brooding rage.

"I suppose they wanted to kill the people who they thought I was attached to the most. The most logical motive that comes to mind is they want to torture and kill me, but it is unclear why." I hear a small laugh emit from her lips, as she takes another step towards me and smirks.

"And are they right? Are you attached to me?" She asks in a soft tone…her emerald eyes flitting down to the linoleum floor like butterflies. I take her hand in my still damp hand from the rain, and kiss it copying the one that Andy did earlier, my lips warm for a moment, craving a bit more.

"Unfortunately." I state, my lips smirking slightly, her emerald eyes narrow and shimmer like the oceans on Earth… She stomps off into the other room, beyond the one the dog is in. Princess is prancing about the house; mocking the violet haired woman…the dog turns and yips quickly before turning a few times and falls asleep in the middle of the living room. 

            I kick up the wooden chair and sit in it, leaning back on its shaky legs. There is only one person left between me and peace too…Vincent. After the pact we made, never to get in each others way, or to ask of personal information, I will break it. For a good reason too, I'd like to know if I really am the villain in this world, and if so…does that mean I really should have died ten months and two years ago, or if I survived for a reason. Did I survive to make sure Faye does, or is it even something more?

_-A glorious hallelujah- _

**(**

AN: Sorry about that…I had a uploading problem….hehehehehee GOMEN!

if Shin has an actual last name…too bad I like this one too much. Pronounced (Tash-jin) 

Heehee another dream sequence, those things are so much fun to write… 

Anyway….this is the first mixed POV chapter…I thought it turned out kinda cool…A big cliffie in the Shin POV and a fluffy moment in the Vicious POV, I just wanted to add fluff and Andy, Andy is hilarious and who could leave out Andy?! I couldn't… if the Vicious POV convo was a little hard to follow, review and tell me or Email me. I am a little tired and I couldn't really think straight.

Anyway R2Rs hands out marshmallow peeps I have too many of these at my house...don't worry you can eat them the preservatives keep them fresh till the apocalypse.

Special awards go to repeat reviewers ! Pimpin Satan, Lets play with matches, !

hands out Vicious action figure...press his tummy with your finger  he'll slash you with his authentic miniature katana before chuckling menacingly ones up that stupid dough boy 

Kaelin77 aw im so glad you look forward to reading my fic, I feel all warm inside and its not the ramen! XD

lets play with matches formerly refered to as insomni-maniac yeah...she couldn't be wearing that cheap hooker outfit anymore and I love the dog too, it gets suffocated then it just pops right back up and bites you in the face...hehehehe im also glad you liked the joke of the dish soap :) 

yes, that is also a problem I have, is too much decribing of a random room in a apartment or a outside table...they make me fall asleep thats why I don't do it that much. And yes...you are a freak...but who said that there is anything wrong with that? XD im foolin

Azly-chan first of all, thanx for reviewing my poem, I never got a email notification, but I randomly was looking through my stuf and figured out that you did, thanx bunches! I would talk to you but im not online oh so much... anyway thanx for your reviews they cheer me up nicely!

Pimpin satan hehehe I got a kick out of that shower scene...I couldnt restrain myself from that, anyway I hope you liked this latest chapter...and im glad someone liked the strange dream sequences and can faye ever keep her mouth shut?

Mae yes it will be the vincent from the CB movie...unfortunately, I have actually only seen the trailer cause it didnt come to theaters where I live and my preoccupied lifestyle has me in circles so I cant buy it yet, so if vincents character is a little off...sorry, ill be winging it.

Insane dragoness I love parties...im glad you are throwing one for me 

Kajouka yes..once you think I am getting predictable BOOM here comes Shin! Hahahahaa I am full of mystery.....hears crickets chirp....ok self esteem plummeted yes I do need to work on grammar, im just a little lazy....thanx for reviewing!

Kate Spiegel yeah thanx, I have always liked the Vicious faye pairings cause I always feel that vicious got shafted and should have received more air time...though who cant love Spike?

Moonwhisper I feel honored to receive a review from you, I loved your fic...the earth one...I cant think of the name right now...too many chocolates...cant think straight

OmegaNeko heheehe yes there is a sequel I would not leave you hanging XP

Cbdbz247 hahahahahaha I am sorry I kept you waiting hands him a crown I would hate to leave thy highness waiting for such a sequel XD XD...sorry its just fun playin around.

If I missed your review, email me and rant...sorry if I did

Have a good night and remember....don't drink while operating a circular saw...stupid neighbors...

                                                                        your in emotional shambles ff buddy L.O.H


	5. Selection

Selection

- ( -

As I change from my bathrobe into my night gown I find myself smiling in the mirror, he admitted being attached to me. I wonder if he really meant it, I mean…he is Vicious, and speaking of Vicious, I wonder why he came back in the first place. As I brush out my damp velvet hair, I walk back into the living room, where Princess is currently sleeping on the threadbare rug. A room away, sitting in my kitchen chair, is Vicious.

"Hey, Vicious, why did you come back, after all that crap I said?" His gray eyes rise upwards to me from where he is sitting. I narrow my emerald eyes for an answer.

"When I say I will do something; I do it, Whether or not you tried to 'hurt my feelings' or not. It is called honor, perhaps you should look it up." I suppose he is still referring to the betrayal ten months ago. This is totally unlike anything that has ever happened to me before. I mean if I said that crap to Spike, he'd certainly never keep his word. And if I said that stuff to Shin, he'd probably be depressed. Jet might, and I don't even want to think of Andy…

At that moment in time, I know that Vicious would actually stand by me, for how long, and his motives are another story…

"Is this Vincent guy really _that_ bad? I can take care of myself you know, I may not need you at all." I prod, I am testing him, but only just a little, I part of me wants to see his reaction. His eyes turn into slits and his mouth frowns as if he just thought of Spike.

"That man before with the blue hair is dirt compared to Vincent. If there were no strings attached to this kill, you'd be dead by now. I conclude that he found out this is a Syndicate kill, and he doesn't associate with their kind either." He stands up and looks deep into my eyes, the emerald merges with the gray blue, and turns into the color of the ocean.

"So is the space samurai scared of this Vincent?" I smirk slightly as I see his eyes widen the slightest millimeter. He puts a hand to my cheek and leaves it there, his hand is warm, not ice cold, not dead, warm. I almost tremble as he narrows the space between us and he breathes out his answer.

"Never. Fear is a waste of time and emotion." His lips capture mine expertly and I kiss back, our tongues meet and the familiar sensation thunders through me like a rolling wave. I continue to kiss back, though his lips are crashing down upon mine with an almost urgent feel. His other arm is on my back, pressing my body into his strong torso. I feel like melting into him, but that is what romance novel women do, I am certainly not one of them. I pull back slowly, looking up through teasing lashes.

"So do you think you can really beat this guy…is he as tough as Spike and Blade were?" I question

"If Spike and Blade were the same caliber of this guy I would have sent Shin and your 'Spike reincarnate' to protect you." His lips glide against mine again so softly I thought it was satin, but I am still left wide-eyed. Although I doubt this Vincent is as good as Spike, Vicious will need my help whether he wants it or not. A few strands of silver enter my view and I purse my lips.

"You are going to need help if this guy is as good as you say he is." I back up a step to make sure he sees the seriousness in my hardened eyes. He chuckles once and his hand rests on his katana. The smooth hilt glistens with his hair with the dingy fluorescent light.

"I don't think you understand Faye, I am a hitman. It is my job to kill people, like it is his. If you think that you, the pretty boy Shin, or that imbecile 'Spike reincarnate' will help me, you are mistaken. If your pride is hurting; don't waste time over it." He pauses and opens his mouth, but then shuts it. He better be using a gun; if he just used his katana then I'd be nervous. It takes skill to go up against a long range weapon with a short range one, one on one. I smile faintly.

"As long as you use a gun I won't be there, if you want to kill this guy so badly solo then you can." I walk back to my bedroom, Princess flips over in her sleep and starts growling and biting an imaginary foe, her legs are kicking as if in pursuit. I suppress a laugh.

"Who said I'd be usi-never mind." He stands up and walks towards the door, I stop him.

"Hey, it's three forty-five in the morning, we can share a bed; you look like shit when you're tired." I smirk, wondering if I have ever heard Vicious say 'never mind' he never has a slip of tongue…well, in the verbal sense. I smack myself mentally for even thinking of slip of tongue in _that_ sense…

"You took the words from my mouth." I fume and turn to him; I pick up a dog bone and hurl it at his head, hoping it would connect. I dodged it barely, it made a dent in the drywall and I stormed off to my bed, and made sure that I had all the covers on the far left side of the bed before he came in. He walks in, annoyed that he wouldn't even have a sheet to sleep with, and with my back turned to him, I feel the depression of a body on the mattress as he turns away from me. I hear a clatter of a katana on the other side of the bed.

"Ass, you know that is what you get." I said barely above a whisper…no response. Whatever, I'm not wasting my precious beauty sleep over him. I close my eyes and try to sleep, but my mind seems to be screaming at me…like always…I guess between finding out that Vicious is alive, hitmen trying to kill me, Vicious a hitman, and him versus Vincent death duels, I am a little pissed and confused. I feel Vicious on the other side of my queen size bed, which I happened to steal from a neighbor, begin to move.

If he is trying to get anything from me he has another thing coming, I feel my gun under my pillow, I don't think I'd be able to shoot him anyway, it's just to make sure that I am serious about him keeping his space.

"Godamn you Spike…Julia" I open my eyes, one is twitching, my mouth in a snarl, no one told me that he talked in his sleep! then I am nearly thrown off the bed, sheet and all, when he bolts and sits upright in the bed, breathing heavily, his head bowed.

"What in the hell? Vicious aren't you too old for nightmares? You scared the crap out of me!" I hiss and I sit up, but he doesn't answer, he just stares down, clenching his fist. He turns to me; his eyes are filled with rare fire.

"You said Spike and Julia in your sleep… Jealous that he got her?" I poke him with my finger to make sure he didn't go catatonic on me. His gray eyes widened and his pupils almost dilated…what did I say?

"Are you jealous that she got him?" As much as that comment intended to hurt me, it didn't. I came to terms with Spike and Julia loving each other a while ago. But something tells me, whatever in the seven hells he was dreaming about, was not about Spike getting Julia.

" I probably shouldn't have said that shit." I mutter and lay back down on my back, he is still sitting up, looking down at me; his eyes are back to normal, back to the blue gray that I fall into so much. He falls back on the bed and wraps his arms around me. I tuck my head into his shoulder, too mechanically for my opinion, trying to memorize his scent that is of snow and storms. I feel his warmth radiate into me like a blanket of muscle and smooth skin.

Then I intently listen for any indication that he might think that I am someone else who he is holding. Like Julia. Just because I've fallen for the guy, doesn't mean I am not going to make sure that he isn't still hung up on that blonde anymore. He better not be; I'm tired of trying to get out of Julia's impressive shadow.

"Fall asleep Faye." He says simply, I soon feel thankfully reassured, He thinks I am Faye. I smile slightly. I loose myself in his snow-storm scent and his shielding warm arms. I loop my slender arms around him as I fall into a blissful slumber, even though I have had to use sleeping pills for the last few months. I would never admit this out loud, but I wish I could be enveloped in this forever.

(pov change, my stars wont show up any more)

The room was silent, save for the under-laying rumble of anger, confusion, and pensiveness. I stand up, my teal eyes are reminiscent of a snakes, I am so confused and raging I feel my pupils slit. I don't know why I am angry, chances are her cover was blown…but there is something amiss here.

"Shin why didn't you tell me that she was on Mars?!" An equally exasperated Jet rubs his temples with his hand, as if freeing himself from a headache. "Shin, there is something going on isn't there…something you are hiding…what is it?!" Jet puts down his plate and stands up, he is a few inches taller than I; a table separates us. I narrow my eyes accusingly at Alisa then I look to Jet

"Faye and I are targets for hitmen…I don't know why, I don't know how. All I know is that someone is after Faye and me, possibly you as well." Jet's jaw drops from the finality of my words, Alisa's sepia eyes widen in surprise. Jet runs a hand through his thinning hair and looks at me one more time.

"There is something else isn't there. Why you haven't gone to help her by now…" He trails off; I can tell his ISSP mind is reeling for any possibilities. Alisa's eyes move between Jet and I multiple times before she stands up as well, but before she can pipe up I point to her accusingly.

"How did you know that Faye was in Phoenix, there is only one other person that knew before I told Jet. Tell me, who is informing you and why are you here?!" I almost snarl, I feel so out of character and stressed. Nothing is simple, nothing. I just wanted Faye and I to be together, or at least for Faye to be happy, but no. Vicious and his story about hitmen are making everything complicated. At first I didn't believe Vicious, but now I am glad I did.

"Don't talk to Alisa like that! It's not her fault she knows these things stop being fucking paranoid." He raises his arm at me and whips it about him in fury as he talks, I forgot he likes her so much, before I could utter another word, Alisa pulls out a pistol and holds it to his head.

"That doesn't matter, what concerns you is the fact that I know Vicious is alive, and that you know too much." Her sepia eyes narrow; but widen as she looks to Jet, almost in regret. Jet's face falls, like a stone thrown into water.

"Sorry Jet, but I needed the money to get Rhint out of jail…The Black Falcons had an opening for a negotiator and I got the job. I'm not the innocent little thing that you want me to be…" She clicked the safety on her pistol, holding it now to Jet I am just a little pissed…I knew I should have listened to my instincts.

"What do you need to know about Vicious, Alisa…" She turns, and smiles as if I read her mind, which I am sure that I have, she didn't come all this way to blow Jet's or my head off, it would be suicide. I feel the hidden switchblade in my sleeve, it's always on me.

"I don't need to know a thing, my superior, however, needs to know." She stands there darkly, imposing, yet I can see the trembling of her trigger finger, and the innocence in her sepia eyes. She doesn't know what she has gotten herself into. I pity her, because she won't ever be able to escape the Syndicate once she finds out how horrible they really are. She then takes a headset out of her purse, on her side the entire time, and puts it around her ear, she then murmurs into it softly.

"If you think I'm going to tell you where Vicious is you are insane!" I yell. She frowns, takes the gun and shoots it at Jet, the bullet whizzes his face. Jet is in disbelief, I am not. I have seen what the Syndicate can do to innocent people who think they are just entering the Syndicate for a one-time thing.

"I whether you tell me or not is not my concern, I will find out either way and Vicious will be contained either way." She shifted her weight and aimed the pistol back at me, she wont shoot me though she needs me, Jet is another story.

"Vicious is a hit man, trying to ascertain him is not a likely option. He'd rather die then be imprisoned." I grin, knowing full well that even if I wanted Vicious to be killed, it is not likely. Personally, at this point, I wouldn't mind either way if Vicious is alive or dead. Faye could do a lot better than him, in fact if Vicious were dead I think it would be better for her, I mean Vicious is still a killer.

"Oh, so that's how you figured out the plan, Vicious is a hitman, he told you. Very clever..."Alisa concludes as she adjusts her pistol, keeping it on Jet, while looking at me and murmuring again into her headset, she isn't speaking in words, it must be a code.

"This world is coming to a damn end…" I see Jet sit back down on the couch, in spite of Alisa's gun being on him, and breathe a heavy sigh. I feel bad for the guy, he was left out of the loop this entire time.

"Jet…" For a moment she was lost and looking at him like a little child, then she snapped out of her sincerity. "Shin, We need your help to catch Vicious, he is a menace! Just look at him, he kills everyone in sight; he is ruthless, cunning and merciless. If you help the Black Falcon Syndicate capture him, you'd not only be doing Mars a favor, but Faye as well…" I stop. Faye, she could do so much better than Vicious…She just doesn't know that yet, she just wants someone to fill Spike's place, that's all. Well, perhaps Alisa is right, I won't be killing Vicious, just turning him in.

"Alisa, your offer is tempting, however I have to decline-" She stops me

"Remember Shin, he killed your brother…Lin. Don't you think his death should be justified?" I swallow a lump in my throat, she is right…I have to do this for Lin and Faye. Faye deserves better anyway, whether it is me or someone else, she doesn't know what she is getting herself into.

"Wait, hold on, Spike never said a thing about Vicious killing Lin! Shin, Alisa listen to me, getting involved with this Syndicate is a bad idea. It's not too late, you can take refuge here." Jet protested vehemently, his muscular arm flexing while his robotic ones hand is clutched in a tight fist.

"Are you defending Vicious?" I ask in an unbelieving tone.

"No, I could care less about the guy. Go to Faye, but don't turn Vicious into the Syndicate, you might get caught up in the Syndicate's shit too." Jet explains in a warning tone, he just doesn't want to see anyone chasing their pasts. Well I am not Spike, I am not Vicious, I am not even my brother. I know what I am doing, nothing will happen. I'll just sneak up on Vicious with a tranquilizer gun and it will all be finished.

"Jet I know what I am doing…." I pause to think of my words that have caught somewhere between my brain and my mouth.

"Spike said the same thing. Just don't follow in his footsteps Shin." All the sudden my eyes widen considerably and I recall the words that Vicious said to me…

_---flashback---_

_'Shin, do not follow in your brother's footsteps.' His titanium eyes sliced back to me, even though I can't see his face because he doesn't even have to decency to face me. His dark cloak like a veil of night; surrounds him in the abyss of the hallway._

_ He states it as if it would happen, as if I would make the same mistake of believing in him and dying. I bet Vicious just had fun shooting him in the chest, that's how he died. He got shot in the chest…_

---end flashback---

"Alisa. Lets go, let's go to Phoenix, Vicious needs to be taken care of." I say with finality and sharpness of a Syndicate hardened leader. She smirks and takes out her comm.-link, I suppose to call her superior. I throw my old communicator on the couch, without much regret. My teal eyes harden into crystallized turquoise and I am barely aware of Jet's downcast look as he walks off towards where Ed ran off…

Jet just doesn't understand anything.

_-the distant flutter-_

- ( -

Sorry guys, I have been out of town for a while....but now I'm back! expect some random comments of Vicious degrading some of Spike's attributes because he was his friend and that is what guys do! Vincent is probably Spike's equal, but Vicious wouldn't admit it.

Sorry If Shin was out of character…he is supposed to be. Alisa, Jet's old girlfriend, is very persuasive… I guess…I don't know, I don't think she was in character either.

my little stars and crurvy hyphens wont show up so this will be the new layout

POV change = ---pov change---

flashback = ---flashback---

dream = ---dream--- its really complicated isn't it? XD

Don't worry if you are a little confused, hopefully things will get cleared up in the next chapter.

Oh yeah, Vincent from the movie is going to be in this fic, but don't flame me if he is out of character, I haven't seen the movie in a really long time…or it seems like it has… anywho… I know the movie was supposed to take place btw #22 and #23 but in this fic's case, pretend the movie never happened and Vincent is not a biologic sociopath, though you can draw any sociopath conclusions from this fic that you want to. ()

Expect more plot turns coming up.

Tell me what you think of my story and

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!!!

V


	6. Reflection

Reflection

**-(-**

The only question that comes to my mind is 'What have I gotten myself into this time?' This was nothing like times with Julia or any other woman I have happened upon, it is different, it is natural, almost feral, yet something about it makes me apprehensive. What if I am not able to stay with her, what will happen? I never used to be apprehensive.

The most unnerving thing about this experience is that I _am_ becoming attached to her...and I am not one to become attached with anything, especially women. Julia said that women are all liars. Yet, Faye doesn't lie for the thrill or deceit of lying.

Faye lies because that is what she had to do. Her past, as much as I comprehend, was forgotten, and she was forced to make things up, create things so she could survive as an adult with the experience of a child. Isn't making and creating things from nothing lying? Or was she just surviving with an inherent talent of verbal creativity? My eyes look at her, though she looks serene asleep; she has a.... sprite-like...quality, that makes you do a quick double-take.

_Beep beep beeeeeeep beep bee-_

My mouth becomes a straight line; it's my employer, Mr. Kaze. I actually respect this man. This is commendable, considering people, save two or three, are pathetic useless idiots. His eyes hold loyalty and integrity even in _these_ times _and_ on Callisto. I answer my communicator, which I leave on at all times.

"Hello Kaze." I speak monotone as I stand up from the bed and enter the kitchen, Princess notices and immediately, yet subtly, moves between the exit door and me. I pass by her and enter the kitchen with a roll of a curious eye.

"You didn't tell me...you are the actual legend, the myth, the true Vicious of the old Red Dragon Syndicate, son of one of the most intelligent men that has walked the planet Mars, and you didn't have the balls to tell me." He thunders quietly into the comm.

"You never asked, besides, I am no longer affiliated with the Red Dragons, I no longer have an attachment towards them." I spit apathetically back. My blue grey eyes smirking

"Too bad the Red Dragons still have an attachment to you. The leader, mind you the actual leader of the Red Dragons, Daemon, has just hired a few hours ago, a hit on you, raised the hit on Faye Valentine by 7 million and Shin Tashjian by 7.5 million." My eyes widen, how did they figure out I was a hitman so fast? The only reason why they would kill me so fast is if they figured out I am hired to kill Shin.

Did Shin rat me out? A part of me wants to believe it; another part of me thinks I am stupid for thinking so.

"Who did you hire to kill me? He better be a challenge to fight…" I state flatly, like anyone can harm me anyway. The dog behind me growls with her one ear planted stiffly on her head.

"I couldn't do a damn thing; the hit went right over my head, to Vincent. I didn't have a fucking say in it, Vincent has been connected to the Red Dragons the entire time. The shit has been against me the entire time, getting his hits from the Red Dragons without my cut!" I hear glass shattering in the background and I curse myself silently, this has gotten clearer now.

Vincent knows who I am; we were with each other on Titan for three weeks.

"I heard he wasn't pleased about the kill at all, you two weren't enemies, you know that. He seemed 'less than enthusiastic' about it." I stopped; I noticed that we had done a few hits together, like Syndicate partners. Yet, I could not bring myself to think of him as one, something about him I never liked; that and partners have a tendency of turning on you.

"Also, I'd like to give you some very peculiar information. Considering you as the old Vicious of the Red Dragons, guess who came back from the grave and claimed the leadership position of the Black Falcons?....Julia." Then the spiritual glass shattered around me and I almost dropped the communicator, I feel asphyxiated. She is dead, the snake is dead. That idiot Spike would have never come after me if she was alive. The bitch, she is alive and I bet Spike didn't know. A cold lump formed in my throat and a knot in my gut. Things have definitely have become complicated.

"Vicious.....Vicious....are you there?!" I hear Kaze's curious voice.

"...are you positive it is Julia...you could be mistaken..." I let my silver hair refract some of the fluorescent light.

"Vicious my boy, men like me don't make mistakes and live." I hear the man chuckle on the other line. I couldn't help but to smirk a small bit also.

"I have to go." I hang up and nearly throw the communicator, I settle with a yell instead, the dog behind me slinks into the shadows, the broken window blows in a sour breeze from the pitch black night, something is not right.

"Damn..."I snarl and press Shin's number into the communicator; I need to straighten some things out with him. The communicator beeps five times and I was about to hang up when an unexpected voice answers the comm..

"Let me guess...this is Vicious." The cop answers the communicator and I curse silently.

"You're correct...do you want a prize?" I bite dryly, my strained eyes narrowing

"No, but what do you want?" I hear the cop's anxiety ring through the communicator, the dislike in his voice is thickly apparent.

"I need you to tell Shin a message." I speak with an urgent edge, I am a little pissed.

"He isn't here." The cop lowly replies, I hear a child in the background repeat Shin's name over and over.

"Well then, I will tell you. It might be of some concern to you, being that you were partners with Spike as I once was." An unmentioned respect filtered through us, though not enough for a friendly tone.

"What? Let me guess...you found out Spike was a mass murder, or something else that would ruin his reputation! If it is I don't want to hear it, understand?!" I'm surprised by his reaction; it never occurred to me I would smear Spike's reputation even if he had one.

"It turns out that his precious angel, Julia, is alive, and the leader of the Black Falcon syndicate." A predictable deafening pause greeted me; the dog stopped growling and is next to me, leaning up against my leg with grit in her eyes.

"That does it I'm coming to Phoenix." Shin told Jet I was alive and where I was.

"Why are you telling me this, are you going senile in old age and want a 'nice little friendship'?" My words float through the silence I hear a snicker from the other line.

"Don't flatter yourself; I wouldn't be your friend if Venus froze over." I hear a snide remark from the cop.

"Then why are you telling me?!" I hiss and yell, taking out my fury on him.

"Because there is no one else I can fucking tell!" Oh the irony, of all people he can confide in he picks me. I can see why Spike and he were such good partners. Jet trusted Spike indefinitely, so did I. The break of that trust, Julia, ruined both Jet's and mine friendship with him. He betrayed me and the irony is, he sacrificed everything for her, she ended up betraying him.

"Now I know why you and Spike got along so great." I state with a bare glimpse of humor.

"Now I know why your name is Vicious." I smirk came to my lips; he was one of the few people to ever say that to my face.

"Goodbye cop." I quickly slip.

"See you Vicious." I hang up and instantly turn around to see Faye standing there.

(POV change)

_ 'Warmth, like the beaches that I grew up on, the stunning seaside harnessed the suns rays and splayed them across your body till you were a toasted brown color. I can almost smell the salt and feel the zephyrs dancing in my hair. Yet I don't think it is the sun, or the ivory sand, or the turquoise sea rippling with wind, I think it's him._

_ I look behind me and see him there, his eyes no longer cold stone, his katana is no longer by his side. His wispy silver hair, like ribbons of moonlight, gets caught in the wind and sail there for a moment. I smirk and saunter over to him, wanting for him to touch me. It's so illogical unreasonable, unfounded, and ironic, yet I just want him to touch me._

_ He notices me and takes a step, the wind shifts and the sand blows around him, concealing him in a whirlwind of dust. I feel my legs cemented to the sand, stuck and frozen. He is leaving me, panic swells within me._

_ I struggle to get free, to shake myself of the suffocating sand that seems to drown me. Right when I loose hope, the sand is gone, and Vicious lays on the sand, motionless. A trail of titan blood streams from his back....and I feel my dry throat begging to scream_.

—end dream—

My eyes blink open harshly, I find myself tangled totally in my sheets, and my face buried in my pillow. I lift my head and realize it is still night, and Vicious isn't beside me. I grab my pistol from my pillow quietly, and quickly untangle myself from the heavy sheets put on a T-shirt and shorts and make my way to the kitchen.

My heart begins to slow its pace as I hear Vicious' calming voice, but I soon realize that there is a rushed and irritated tone underlying it, he better have a good reason to be talking to some random guy instead of just staying in bed like a normal person!

"It turns out his precious angel, Julia, is alive and the leader of the Black Falcon syndicate." My grip on the pistol tightens and I almost click the safety out of habit. There is just no way...just no way. I saw her in the morgue, she was smiling, she was dead. She was cold and dead! I hear Vicious' voice bark a few more times, but I am too confused and angry to care.

I storm into my kitchen and fire a shot into the soundless void, by this time Vicious had already finished his conversation. Princess is standing beside him, her ears planted on the back of her head.

"She is supposed to be dead. Why is she alive? How do you know? I saw her, I saw her body…she is dead!" I shriek at him enraged, I feel my eyes burn and constrict. She isn't supposed to be alive, she is supposed to be with Spike, "This isn't fair....she and Spike are supposed to be together not Julia and y-anyone else!" I fire another shot, this time near Vicious, he watches it fly over his shoulder

"Calm down Faye, I will deal with Julia in time; she is not of any concern right now." His eyes return to normal after being a millimeter wider than usual. He takes a step towards me and stops. He whips around to the window that he busted out earlier. His eyes narrow threateningly. Then I see someone, outside on the fire escape, his thick black hair, runs matted down his back.

"We meet again, partner." The voice deeply and hollowly fills the empty room with a faint apprehension. Immediately, I point my gun at the intruder, Princess' russet eyes become feral and her whole body shudders with belligerence.

"Vincent, leave, you don't belong in a syndicate." Vicious' eyes narrow into slits of steel as he effortlessly lashes out his long katana. The voice chuckles and he smiles vacantly, how does Vicious know Vincent exactly?

"I don't think you understand the severity of the situation at hand Vicious, you have two Syndicates after you…and Faye, your time is about up as well." He pulls out a .45 and points it at Vicious; the grip on Vicious' katana tightens as he frowns.

"I'll give you to the count of three before I shoot. One…..two…." I click the safety, but he doesn't flinch; I narrow my jade eyes and aim towards his leg. I see Vicious motion to me to stop, but I am not going to let this guy Vincent push me around.

"Three!" I fire two rounds at him, but he surprisingly dodges them and shoots back at me, Princess leaps from her crouched spot on the kitchen floor and Vicious speeds across to me. Time seems to slow down as two bullets come at me, both shrieking to kill. I manage to dodge one, but I don't have enough time to dodge the other, it hits me in the left shoulder, as a little blood spurts from the wound, I fall to the floor from the impact. I can feel warm liquid flow down my arm and soak into my T-shirt.

My vision is a little fuzzy, but a man with a silver blur for hair swoops down and wraps something soft and warm around my shoulder, I wince as he puts pressure on the wound. I look into his eyes, the icicle cold is replaced by a blizzard of fire, his usual apathetic, and dry demeanor, washed over with an opaque fury.

"It's not that bad, I can take the bullet out, you go get Vincent." I shakily stand up, clamping a hand to my shoulder; I feel the blood soak threw his cloak that he wrapped around me.

"Stay put Faye; this won't take very long." Vicious' facial expression is suppressing a tempest of anger; the grip on his katana makes his knuckles white. As he stalks off towards where Vincent ran, his silver hair gleaming stridently, my vision clears all the way; I pick up my gun, ignoring the throbbing pain in my shoulder.

"You won't beat him with a damn sword; it—only has two bullets left, but take my gun." My eyes clear and I see Princess, laying indignantly, near the ledge of the fire escape, blood dripping from her abnormally long fangs. She bit Vincent, good dog. Her rib cage rises and falls, she is alive that's good.

"I vowed never to use a gun since the Titan war." He speaks with a sudden rush of vivid clarity. What vow? Who in their right mind would never use a gun ever again if you are in a syndicate?!

"I made the vow with Gren; I intend to honor my vow, even though he did not." With a turn of his head, I saw his face, illuminated by his halo of silver hair, he looked like an angel that had transformed, from a long dead empty angel, to a living angel, with a since of duty.

"Just don't be an ass and die on me—ok?" I manage to choke out the 'ok' as I wince from my shoulder injury.

"That bastard won't kill me; I've survived for this long, dying now would be pointless." His voice lilts the slightest bit, almost as if he were thinking of something that made him happy. I smirk back, applying pressure to my wound that has now become a background pain when I see his smirking face.

"Whatever you say Space samurai…" I feel my blood between my fingers, and it feels foreign. As soon as I get the bullet out and this wrapped up, 'I'll be your backup Vicious,' I promise myself silently. As he leaps out through the window, with the lithe grace of a striking falcon, the dream I had flashes across my mind, and I find myself running for the first aid box in my bedroom, the sooner I help him, the better.

He won't die on me. I made the mistake of not following Spike; I'm not making the same mistake with Vicious. An image of Spike flashes through my mind, his cocky grin and shock of green hair make me smile. The emotions that I held towards him haven't lessened, but they have changed…Spike was a great comrade, Vicious is something more.

Princess stirs in her sleep, and off in the distance I hear a rumble of a few powerful zip crafts…Phoenix is a city of rebirth, but it not only reincarnates the good, but also the bad. I silently pray that those zip crafts have nothing to do with Julia.

_-of angels-_

**-(-**

Sooo how bout that chapter? So Julia is back on the band wagon people throw tomatoes yeah I know…it sounds kinda far fetched, but think of it this way, she only got shot in the back…she could have survived that…well…I think XD

Anyway, some of Vincent's lines and fighting techniques from the movie might be in the coming chapters so I am stating this now, I don't own Vincent or many of his lines.

Though this Vincent will not be entirely based off the movie character, there will be differences. Like example…he is not a bio-terrorist and Electra is not in this fic, just because her hair and her wardrobe immensely bother me….sorry but it does, and there is just no room in the fic, too many characters anyway.

I hope some questions got answered this chapter, more will in the next…next chapter is the Vicious vs Vincent face off!

Don't get angry with Shin yet, he is still our choir-boy angel shinnie, just wait, he'll eventually get back in character…I think! Whether he goes through with his goal of getting Vicious is something you will have to wait for. XD

Anyway, please please please review, I Love ya'll!

(yes I live in the south so I can say Ya'll….there will be no 'yous' or 'yous guys' in this AN!)

REVIEW I command you….dangles cupcake and lime jello cup

L.O.H.


	7. Veracity

Veracity

**-(-**

My hands shake silently as I grip the black cushioned steering wheel, headed towards the brothel where Faye told me she is living. My alert teal eyes try to avoid looking at the woman in my passenger seat, She is facing foreword, her Black Falcon emblem boldly blazed on her lapel. Her black cropped hair and her sepia eyes never move, but she is wringing her fragile hands. She is losing control.

My radar bleeps as another zipcraft pulls up and flanks me, my long arm is already reaching for the missile joystick. I pause as I realize that the side of the gray zipcraft is smeared with the Black Falcon emblem as well, the falcon's wings unfurled and the looming talons frozen in a suspended strike.

"Hey, you show us where Vicious is and there better be no funny business, our leader demands that we find him tonight…er morning, whatever it is on in this city." They have to be a few years older than I am, but they already broke a rule in syndicates, never tell them why. The fact that the leader ordered this, tells me it is personal, but who the person is…is a mystery.

"Number one, I never said I knew where Vicious is, I know where he might be. Number two, only amateurs tell why they want someone. I am not a little kid who might know some information, so why don't you just let me handle it?" I sigh at the muscular thugs on the other end, being in a Syndicate is a lot more than being able to beat the living daylights out of someone.

"You better hope we find Vicious, or our lea—there will be consequences." One pulls out a black cord with a fuzzy-type end; electroshock…this world has found too many ways to torture. I turn off the signal, we are almost there anyway. The city at night looks like Tharsis, my cold home town.

I feel a knot of nervous tension in my gut; I hope this goes well…there are so many things that can go wrong.

I find a parking deck on the other side of the street from her apartment building, her lights are on, I can tell from her window in the kitchen. That means Vicious is there, I inwardly sigh at the good news. As I effortlessly land my black zipcraft, still scorched from the previous battle I was in, Alisa hands me a tranquilizer gun.

"Use this, we want him as unharmed as possible…and be careful." She warns

"Now you decide to be friendly, it's too late to be concerned for my health now…" I grab the gun and gauge its weight, unlike the syndicate type I used to use, the syndicate used all the same type of handgun, .45. I ironically have the same .45 on me now too.

One thing that has always bothered me is that the type of bullet that was found in Shin, wasn't .45. It was a 9mm, very unlike the messy type the Red Dragons used. Vicious could have just picked up a gun or something; I mean of course Vicious killed him. How else could it have happened?

Before I knew it, I was at the bruised door of the Indigo Moon, I see two girls in the lobby, one has large brown eyes, and one has slanted dark eyes, they are both grumbling over something in their prostitute get-ups. I open the door and begin up the stairs, Alisa and the two thugs follow me.

"Hey you, no guys allowed in the building unaccompanied! Are you listening to me jackass? We have already had problems with killers in here! Get the hell out!" I guess I kinda pissed her off when I ignored her and went up to the second story. I hear one of the thugs laugh to the other, Alisa remains silent.

"Yuki get Carlos, he'll fix those suckers up real good!" I hear one of the girls run and beat on a door, I waste no time in getting up to Faye's apartment. I pull out my .45 and shoot the lock. I hear a scream from the lobby as I burst in the door.

"Faye, are you here?" I hear a sigh as Faye appears from her room, her shoulder bandaged heavily and she looks relieved with gun in hand.

"Good, it's only you Shin, at first I thought that it was…Who are those people?" Alisa and the thugs file in, and they look at her skeptically, I notice Princess is laying down in a corner of the room.

"Faye Valentine, We need to know the whereabouts of Vicious." Alisa slices the tension with a syndicate precision. Her black falcon emblem is shining in the fluorescent light.

"Shin please don't tell me you're working with the Black Falcons…" She lightly draws her gun and points it at Alisa. My eyes widen…I never thought it would be this hard to tell her. I don't want her to be angry at me, that is one of the last things I want.

"Faye, this is for your own good, we need to hand Vicious over to the Black Falcons; I can tell he has been here." I speak softly, as her eyes narrow venomously. Just as she was about to speak, gunshots ring outside in the alleyway and Alisa and the two thugs run down the steps to find the source.

"Ay! You crazy bastards whaz goin on 'ere?" I hear a man's slurred voice with an accent I don't recognize.

"Carlos it's the Syndicate! Get Yuki and Sonya and make sure they don't do something stupid!" Faye commands, her emerald eyes leaping with fire as she glares at me. I hear Carlos curse and run back down the stairs.

"Why are you turning Vicious in? They will torture him, you know it! I am not going to let that happen!" She clicks the safety on her gun, seeing her poised like this at me makes me sick. I don't want her to be angry with me, I only want her to be happy. How can she be happy with Vicious? Vicious is a killer.

"Faye, I can't let you be with Vicious, he killed my brother, he shot Lin, I can't allow him to be with you. Wait how did you get that bullet wound on your shoulder?" I ask randomly, concerned, my slanted eyes softening as I step towards her, she takes a step back.

"Vincent from the Red Dragons did this, not Vicious, he doesn't use guns. And even if Vicious killed people, I can't forgive you for helping Julia. I'd go and shoot your 'friends' right now, but I will need these bullets later!" Her eyes narrow; and my face pales as white as snow, Julia….is alive? Julia is the leader of the Black Falcons…she wants revenge against Vicious.

The puzzle pieces are coming together, and I feel a nauseating guilt take over my entire body like a damp blanket. I never thought in a million years that I would be caught helping her, Lin always thought there was something amiss with her, and now I know, she faked her own death…she drove Spike over the edge.

"Faye, please believe me, I had no idea Julia was alive…" I drop my gun with live ammo and my hand quakes out of control…did I make a mistake? Was I the one who didn't know what he was getting into? Another shout and gunshot ring and I hear the angels sing…the angels of rain begin to pour.

(POV change)

"Vicious you are getting rusty, Daemon told me you killed Blade, but now I'm skeptical." Vincent sneers fluently as I wince from a bad bullet graze on my upper arm, this almost seems stupid, Vincent is a professional gun wielder and no matter how much katana or kendo training one receives, guns have an advantage.

" I didn't get bit by a dog named Princess." I smirk as Vincent's eyes get dark and he fires another round at me, I dodge it successfully and thrash out my katana while he darts around and dodges also. His matted dark hair blends into the background as I jump and slash my katana down in a vertical swing, narrowly missing him as he narrowly misses shooting me.

"Vicious, your time has come, its time to just give up, this dream world has no use for syndicate has-beens. Why don't you just wake up?" His low voice ripples like velvet through the air, but I am not amused nor moved. I am tired of people talking about how life is a fucking dream. I wanted to believe it a long time ago, when Spike and I were in the Cathedral, but deep down I couldn't.

I slice at his wounded side, from Princess' bite, I feel flesh connect and tear, he doesn't flinch though. He just jumps back and shoots again, I see the bullet come at me like a predictable train as I move my head to the side and it passes by.

"Life is what you make it Vincent. It's your fault your life is what it is, take some responsibility for your actions and move on." I smirk, my razor blade eyes constrict and lacerate his coal eyes, "I hate beasts who wallow in self pity." He grins quirkily, his way of being pissed off, and fires a few more rounds. I deflect one, dodge one barely, but the other connects in my right side.

"I didn't ask to be on titan. I was forced, I was a guinea pig. I didn't ask to be captured by your scout team, by you Gren and Daemon. None of that was my fault." I use my legs to thrust myself upwards as I grip the sword with two hands.

I swing at an angle across his chest making a bloody laceration while the blood still spurts. He backs up a few feet, about five to be exact and I try to strike again. He parries with his gun, both our weapons locking and shaking furiously with disgust. I slash away his .45 and it clatters yards away. My eyes cut into his empty ones, I realize that he is right about one thing, Daemon was with Gren and I on titan for a short period.

"You are an idiot, no matter if you were forced on Titan or you signed up you were sent there to learn something." I spit reticently back, stupid bastard...He didn't learn anything, neither did Daemon. Daemon was the stupid bastard who mercilessly and maniacally shot down everyone who got in his path. He didn't learn anything, except learning the best ways of creating mass murder.

Apparently Vincent also learned nothing from that experience either. The problem with people who think their lives are dreams is that they hold no responsibility for their actions. They just blame their faults and failures on others, or believe that fate is the force that dragged them to where they are. Putting all your responsibilities on others is lacking honor; such as killing, I kill with my katana so I carry that weight. Shooting someone with a gun is easier to kill and to place the blame on others. Fate is just as worse, the only thing that fate does is honor your victories and deny your defeats.

"That is so easy for you to say isn't it Vicious?! You think you are some sort of God who is better than everyone else, you killed on Titan and now you are nothing. I will show you the world of butterflies is the true reality not your pathetic sadistic world of Syndicates and wars!" How dare he call me nothing when you look at him and see an empty shadow. I hate hypocrites.

I frown and my stance shifts to offensive as I leap and charge at him with my sword at my side. Apathetic rage burns within me as I whisk my katana in an upwards slice, but missing. My arms are lifted for a second of vulnerability, and unfortunately that's all it took.

I feel a foreign pain in my chest and my eyes widen drastically, Vincent's fingers are digging into my flesh, my breathing is quickly becoming irregular. My grip on the katana loosens as my blood seeps from my body into rivulets down his wrist. His grin is insanely calm, as if killing me is all but natural. My mouth opens partly as I refuse to let him see me weak. I use my remaining leg strength to roundhouse him in the gut, he falls back surprised. I leap backwards, looking behind me now noticing the small fan-club that I accumulated.

Shin, a syndicate woman and her two bodyguards, and Faye, standing with a worried look sketching her features, Shin looks like he vomited his lower intestine.

"Just...answer me one thing Vincent...why are the...Red Dragons after...me? Is it something personal...revenge, bloodlust?" that question has been festering in my throat since the beginning and I needed to stall him to formulate a plan, something.

"The Black Falcon Syndicate wants to capture you, we have to stop them so you don't serve them. The other reason is...Daemon wanted to tell me to tell you the truth behind Gren before you died." Vincent sounded a little disappointed it wasn't personal....so It was just political interest...interesting. "The plan was mine, but he executed it flawlessly...calling him a spy, blaming it on you, pinning the Titan duo against each other, it worked perfectly. Gren fell for the bait and you ended up alone and dark, the exact outcome he wanted. You played right into his hands.

"Vincent...I've had....enough of...your...pathetic games...You have no honor...you have no integrity....its time you....burned in hell..with the other beasts."As blood flows freely from my chest and my bullet wound, I prepare for the final assault. My silver hair is matted to my forehead with sweat and my katana sings with weariness.

"Sorry Vicious, but I have one more ace up my sleeve. He takes out a small uzi from his back, and I feel so stupid for not checking that he had an extra weapon than his .45. He takes the weapon and sprays, I roll and duck, but he wasn't aiming for me...the people behind me. I anxiously turn behind me seeing Shin, and the two thugs laying in their own pools of blood, Faye was pushed out of the way by Shin.

"You bastard! You'll pay for that!" Faye shrieks as she leaps off the asphault and takes her gun and shoots all of her rounds. He dodges most, one grazes his shoulder. I make a move to end this, but before I can reach within six feet of slashing distance, he points his uzi and shoots at point blank.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. I counted each bullet that entred me, some in my legs some in my arms, most in my chest. I feel my legs burn and crumple like flaming wings as I hit the asphalt with a painful thud. My katana clatters noisily beside me, I can't move, my whole body hurts and all I can think of is strangling that man to death, but my body wont listen to me.

"Vicious! Oh my God...No! You can't be...." I hear a tinkle of stiletto heels on asphalt and a few footsteps coming towards them, I manage to roll on my side, and the sight makes me sick...Faye is going to try to fight Vincent. I know Faye is strong, she is not weak, but there is no way she can go up against him.

"Ill make sure you'll never see the sun rise Vincent!"Faye kicks with her long smooth legs and jumps and swings in a right hook, but he looks unfazed. She furrows her brow and jumps and connects a jump swing kick, but he seems unfazed...this guy can't be killed.

"I want to see what Vicious sees in you." He punches her in the stomach that ignites a fire in my chest. Seeing her double over makes my grit my teeth. I watch as I try to gather strength as he tilts up her chin...he wont...I wont let him...

"You jack ass Ill kil– " Her sentence was chopped off as he struck down upon her lips with his, her eyes went wide with shock, as he pressed into her shoulder wound, reopening it, her eyes constricted to venom-green slits.

I felt my body become lighter with the fire that consumes me. No one kisses her...no one touches her without her permission or mine, especially this freak. He will pay, His judgment day is here and I will deliver him to the underworld. I struggle painfully to lift my body on one knee...one knee is all I need as I use my bloody right arm to grasp my katana.

"You taste like strawberries."She strains against his hold on her as he lifts his uzi to her head, I only have one shot at this, if I miss or if he dodges, it will be over. I raise my katana above my head, preparing to hurl it at him as a bullet whizzes and hits Vincent in the hand; making him drop his uzi. He flings Faye to the ground and she rolls unconscious when her head hit the asphalt.

"Vincent You got some nerve you know." The cop steps from the shadows holding his smoking gun. Vincent is between the cop and I and as he turns to look at the cop, I seize my chance. Using my last ounce of blood and strength I fling the spinning katana at him like a circular saw. The katana goes through the back of his scull and he falls to the sound soundlessly.

"Sayonara...."I am usually not one for last dramatic words, but here I am saying it. Only heroes say those last words. My mind reels, something that it is not accustomed to, and realizes something, did I just do something heroic? I hope not, I hated comic book heroes. Then I realize that I would do almost anything for that violet haired woman...and isn't that what those stupid heroes do?

My eyes widen slightly as a sharp pain hits my back. The night's wings begin to uplift to dawn, I loose all feeling and I fall into darkness.

_-They're all too far-_

**-(-**

Sooooo.....how was the fight scene? I personally thought I could have done a bit better, but I was happy with it. Shin's POV was a little uneventful, but don't worry, he'll be better in the next chappie!

Anyway.....I don't have much else to say except......Responds to Reviews are next chapter...

sorry for the short AN, I am feeling uninspired for this note because I am actually not quite sure where this fic will go from here... XD


	8. Incursion

Incursion

**-(-**

I never remembered being so scared in my entire life, but I'd be the last to admit it out loud. When I saw that Vincent guy shoot Vicious like that, the blackness and the coldness of his eyes as he just held the trigger, I felt so scared, as if Mars would stop turning. It was just like my dream, and I thought dreams never came true.

It also scared me because I have grown almost dependant of him...I bite my bottom lip, and the knot is still in my stomach, because he is right down the hall in Spike's old bed, bandaged except his head and his shoulders. He hasn't moved in a week and five days.

"Faye, you finally decided to eat some food huh?" I turn, my violet hair swings slightly, Jet stands in the doorway looking at me sit by the couch with a plate of who-knows-what on my lap. The couch recently held Shin, 'til he decided to go practice fighting in Spike's old practice room.

"If you count this 'goo' food." I laugh. He scowls and sits on the table, once I thought I figured out Jet, he proves me wrong again. He told me Vicious killed Vincent with his prized katana by impaling it through the back of his skull, the point budding through his right cheek bone.

"You know Vicious has six bullets in him, not counting the tranquilizer bullet Alisa shot in him after he killed Vincent. He shouldn't be alive, it's just not possible." He crosses his arms and huffs, trying to make heads and tails of the situation. I just throw back my head and laugh.

"Since when has that ever stopped him? Everyone thought he should have died before now at some point, but he hasn't. He could really careless ya know?" I smile slightly, a reflex when thinking about him in a good light, Princess comes prancing in next to Jet, sniffs him, and then paws at his metal arm. Jet shoves Prin off, she stomps away, feeling unwanted.

"I don't get it. Why is Julia after Vicious, and why bother creating a whole syndicate to find him? And what is about this Daemon? He seemed like a 'nobody' ten months ago, but now he has ties to not only Vicious, but to Gren...what in the hell have I gotten myself into?" He runs a hand through his thinning hair, which has grayed slightly in the past few years.

"What do you mean? You aren't in this...only Shin and Vicious are." I stretch out my legs, thinking of Vicious' serene face, and I am compelled to kiss him for the one millionth time today.

"I was the one who took him here; if I left him to Alisa I wouldn't have HIM as a problem!" He yelled angrily, I frown my ruby lips. Jet has loathed Vicious since the day Spike fell from that cathedral window. It is hard; to be comrades with Spike, then his murderer is half-dead in Spike's own bed. I bet Jet put him there, instead of the couch, 'cause he didn't want to look at him.

"You have got to stop pinning the whole Spike death on him, you know. It was all three of them, Vicious, Julia and Spike. Yeah it's unfair and it sucks for Spike to die; I'd like to see the lunkhead back, but he isn't coming back...and...well...we cant take that out solely on Vicious. Yeah it's easier to....but it's not right." I look at Jet, trying to get through to him...I don't think I will though. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

"How are you and Shin? Still pissed?" Jet's changing the subject. My head drops down and supports itself on my hand as I lean foreword. What to do? I am still pissed as hell Shin did something like that, but he truly believes that Vicious killed Lin. If I thought that someone killed my brother, I'd be angry too.

"Don't know. I'll think about it later. He's recovering well; I owe my life to the kid." I grin slightly, Shin has always been there; I can't deny that. When he pushed me out of the way like that, the hate mostly melted. The only thing I could think of doing was getting revenge for shooting him down. Shin, Jet, Ed, and of course Vicious, are the only people who I have left, and those people don't come in and out like revolving doors.

"You have to remember, he's just a kid. Kids make mistakes...even though he is a nineteen year old. You can't expect him to know that the leader of the Black Falcons was Julia. Hell, I didn't even know till Vicious told me." Jet confessed. I can't really remember a time where we just talked before, times have changed. Three years ago if someone told me that I'd be talking with Jet and looking after a silver haired space samurai, I'd probably laugh in their face then smack them.

"Why did you pick up Vicious after I fell unconscious? You hate him." I sit back in my chair, eyeing him through mascara lashes. I know it looks stupid just applying makeup and not going anywhere. I never thought of leaving Vicious' side, when he wakes up, I want to look my best.

"I'd have a sinking feeling that you'd kill me if I didn't." Jet chuckled, sighing quietly afterwards.

"Well, thanks. I don't know of anyone who'd let the man who, and I quote, 'mercilessly slaughtered my precious bonsai' back on the ship." I smirked, he actually said that. He glared heavily at me. If looks could kill, he'd fry me on the spot.

"Shut up...." He grumbled and all was silent for a few minutes...are these those awkward silences that people talk about? I don't know...My hand absently landed on my mouth as I yawned, my head thudded dully, remembering the kiss that Vincent gave me. That kiss felt so wrong, so awkward, yet I felt weak. Yes, the invincible, unshakable, Faye Valentine, felt weak. When his tongue coiled in my mouth, I wanted nothing better than to get out of his grip. How dare he!!

"What's wrong?" Jet asked

"Nothing." I look down and my hand is clenched on the fork, I put my plate down, the food is mostly gone. I look to Princess trot up again after running away and I give her the rest of my 'mystery loaf'. She sniffs it before running away to find Ed again. The dog won't even eat it.

"Get some sleep Faye, I'll tell Shin to wake you if _he _wakes up." He looks at me sternly with those gray eyes, and I find my legs betray me and stand. I wave and mechanically walk to my room. I hear Shin punch and kick the punching bag, his crutches are propped up against the door, the uzi bullets ripped apart a tendon in his leg and it hasn't healed yet. For a moment I look into the room, and I smile. This is another secret from my past, but I had a little cousin who constantly immolated me and followed me around in the summer when I had no school. He was little and wanted to play soccer like I did. For some absurd reason, he reminds me of Shin. I don't know, but my little cousin, Marcello, did have dark hair and was a good-boy to a fault.

'Shin you idiot, you are so lucky Vicious is unconscious or you'd be dead.' I think as I go in my old room, the bed unmade, the TV from my generation and the beta tape-player are still there. I shed my black vinyl top and remove my matching shorts. I then proceed to put on one of Shin's over-sized T-shirts since I have no clothes; I am also wearing a pair of his _clean _boxers to bed.

As much as I have tried to appear indifferent to Vicious' condition, it's ripping me apart inside. I mean, what if he gets worse? He could have a punctured lung, or his liver might be bleeding, or something really bad that might just kill him. People think that he is some sort of demon, immortal; I even at times I think he can beat anyone he wants, but this incident just proves that he can be hurt too. As I lay upon my bed awake, my purple hair striping my face, I reassure myself that everything will be alright

I mean logically, if he did have a punctured lung, he'd be…dead by now. So, if he is alive and breathing now, he will be in the morning, and when he wakes up, the first thing I'll do is kiss him, to remind him that I have no choice but to be by his side, because if I am not, then I might never feel, right again. Ironically, he rescued me from the depression that Spike's death instilled.

'Does he make me happy?' Am I really one of those romance novel damsels-in-distress who whimper and cry when their hero gets hurt? I hope not; I hated romance novels. I adjust my weight on the sagging mattress so I'm comfy; I am feeling empty and chilly. I take the pillow from under my head and hug it close to my chest. Most people think Vicious Inverno is a demon, but he isn't, he is an angel. He is a deranged angel who finally got some damn wings. I silently laugh as I fall into a dreamless sleep, unaware of Ed's security system blinking red.

(POV change)

"I wonder what that was about…" I watch Faye walk away. I smile as I continue to routinely punch and kick the bag, over and over, like a machine. That is the way the Syndicate works, like a machine, and if one gear gets out of place, the whole thing blows. Vicious and Spike were the worst things to happen to the machine. High kick, left hook, right power foreword, left swing kick, uppercut, right hook.

I realize that in comparison, Lin and I were the best things to happen to the Syndicate, we did as we were ordered. We weren't individuals; we were a statistic, a loyal number, a titanium syndicate gear that made everything run like clockwork. I minded a little, Lin didn't, he liked things logical, simple, effortless. Unfortunately, Spike and Vicious were two rogues who were individuals and neither compromised; neither followed orders, and neither liked things the way they were, simple .Crouching leg swing, double left jab, crossover, right hook, duck, double left kick to the chest and head, end it with in a perfect roundhouse, the bag quivers in fright.

I felt my leg throb as I walk slowly over to the floor and put some ice on it. The bullet scars still raw. Luckily, however, I told Jet a few months back of a medical wholesaler on Venus who supplies top-notch supplies to the Syndicates. If we didn't have these supplies, I'd be doing weeks of that crappy physical therapy, and Vicious might be six feet under.

Yet I wonder if he really did kill Vicious. Even though Vicious is a murderer, he doesn't lie, he is honest. And that is what confuses me. If in fact Vicious hadn't used a gun since titan, which I can never remember ever handling one….then why was Lin killed with a gun that didn't match the Syndicate's?

Unless, Vicious really didn't kill him, and Lin was killed by someone else. Who would kill Lin? It was a routine Red Eye delivery….at least that is what I was informed it was by Lin. God dammit this whole thing is making my head spin.

I sigh as I think back on if what I tried to accomplish was the right thing. I mean, I never would have turned Vicious in if Alisa told me that Julia was the leader of the Black Falcons. I grimace as I remember Julia. Yeah, she was…err…is one woman I have never figured out. She wanted to seem so innocent, but yet such a tired liar at the same time. She wanted some guy to take her away from the dream that she endured. That in itself is ok, but she started to mess with Spike and Vicious, and actually become apart of the Syndicate, is when things started to get complicated.

I take a small towel and wipe the sweat from my forehead, it is too quiet. This kind of quiet always makes me daydream, especially about the past. Vicious seemed less and less cold but more and more secretive when he was around her, now that I remember, it has been so long ago I almost forgot what Vicious was like before Julia. I was only thirteen back then, but I remember Lin and Julia glaring at each other. Julia was making things complicated; Lin liked things simple.

He wanted Julia to leave. Mao wanted Julia to go too, only because Vicious was happy. Mao loathed Vicious as much as he loathed he own son, Blade. Mao was a guy who was never satisfied, neither was Julia. Both found Vicious and left him because they thought they found the next best thing, Spike.

As I move around the ice pack, I begin to reflect on the past, something I shouldn't do, but I am anyway. When Vicious found out about Julia and Spike; he changed for the worse. He only talked to Lin, and that is when he was in a good mood, I never remembering pitying or even liking Vicious because everyone liked Spike so much better, it was natural. Besides, it was a Syndicate, not a social club.

I think that is what drove Vicious over the edge, probably living in Spike's shadow even though they were equally good fighters. I don't regret liking Spike, everyone did, he was like a bug lamp and we were the bugs. The thing that gets me though, is I have something in common with Vicious, we both tried to get out of another's shadow. My brother was sharp and he had immense skill. Everyone expected that of me, and if I wasn't identical, I'd be fired.

"SHIN-PERSON! Tomato says there is an emergency! Baddie Syndicate ships are closing onto Bebop fast!" I whip around, out of my little day dream, my sweaty wet hair slaps against my forehead. Damn…with two Syndicates after us, I don't know if it is the Red Dragons or the Black Falcons. I yell to Ed

"Ed wake up Jet and Faye, tell them I'm going out in my ship!" I jog past Ed and Ein to the hangar door in the revolving hall. I leap though the entrance, hearing the roar of zip crafts flying closely by. If I didn't know better I'd say they are the Red Dragons. I run to my Syndicate cruiser and jump in hastily.

"Damn, I thought they wouldn't follow us to Venus…" I hear Jet shouting as I open the hangar and my Lamborghini inspired cruiser with short wings, spins out the hangar. My nervous finger already planted on the machine gun trigger. I have a radio contact, it's Jet.

"Shin, don't be stupid, there are at least five ships out there!" It's time to show them what the Syndicate has taught me. Yes, dog-fighting is not my specialty, but I am far from an amateur.

"Have some faith Jet, I was in the Syndicate for thirteen years remember?!" I smile as I pull on the controls and my ship flips over in pursuit of another ship. My muscles tense as my fingers mechanically tap over the keyboard quickly and I record all information on this one cruiser by sending out a radar scan. Syndicate ships do have some rather interesting devices.

I grab the gun control stick quickly, aim, lock, fire. The bullets riddle the side of the other Syndicate ship, creating a sphere of fire. My own radar goes off; there is another ship behind me. I twist my neck around to see if they are trying to find a missile lock. I trip my fingers over the keyboard as I drop a mine and accelerate away. The ship behind me explodes as I speed back to bebop, looking for the other three I missed.

I spot two ships coming straight at me side by side, a few yards of space in between. I smile, they think they can out smart me…well, looks like I'm going to have to show them! They sprayed machine gun fire as I twist the controls to the right so my cruiser flies completely vertical, the right side facing down. The bullets zip harmlessly by.

I push another button quickly, a guy custom made this for me on my cruiser. I remember he taught me this technique since the other syndicate used it so much. Right when that they were point blank, two high density titanium blades whip sturdily out from my cruiser, one from the roof, facing right, the other from the underside facing left. Needless to say, when I went between them, sparks lit up the sky as the two ships were severed in two.

"Kids don't try that at home" I chuckled as I veer back around towards Bebop, looking for the ones I missed.

"Shin, I'm coming ou—" Faye's face crackles mysteriously away, they are jamming the radio. I see Faye's RedTail emerge from the hangar as my radar goes off. Some ship has a missile lock on me! Two missiles screech towards me as I dive low and spiral away to avoid them. Both missiles miss, but the ship is still on me. I turn the controls harshly as I make a sharp U-turn and speed towards the ship, pressing down on the missile joystick. To my horror, they didn't just scramble the radio, but my missile controls as well.

"I can't even radio in!" I bite out. The syndicate ship took the advantage of my seconds of frustration by shooting the right wing of my cruiser. The bullets dent the metal and pierce it, but luckily I can still fly. I fly upwards and back, following the ship as he closes in on the RedTail, who is chasing and shooting down another syndicate ship. I press down on the trigger as the ship fills with bullets and explodes.

"Yeah! Ok only like one left." I turn and to my horror, another wave of Syndicate ships swarm the once dark void of space. I tap some keys on my keyboard rapidly I trying out some new technology that The Red Dragons acquired. It is not much, but it is a repel grid that will repel some missiles and machine gun rounds if enough energy is transferred to it by the engine. In other words, my speed and my agility will slow down, but I see little choice.

I bite my lip as I activate the repel grid, my sweaty hands grip the controls as I try again to fire a missile at the nearest syndicate ship. I see Faye struggling, but successfully dodging their untimely onslaught. Damn, the missiles still won't budge! I resort to my machine guns again; I press the buttons on the top of each control stick and spray into the new ships.

"At least something is going for me." I mumble as the repel grid flings back magazines of machine gun rounds. I manage to shoot down a couple by sneaking up behind the ships, but that is when the unthinkable happened. I tried to keep every ship I could ahead of me, but one sneaked up behind me and fired a sinking missile at the right engine of my cruiser. The repel grid deflected it, but it exploded as it did, causing my right engine to shut down completely.

"If I don't dock soon, I'll be dead once the flames reach the gas tank or the left engine." I punch the shaking controls as all the alarms blink red. I look out my cracking windshield to see the RedTail get hit by a stun-missile, a type of missile that shuts down all engines and controls. I am pitiful; I can't even defend her against a syndicate armada… My eyes constrict into little shards of glass; my cruiser is spiraling downward towards Bebop's deck like one of those old fighter-jet movies. Then I notice in slow motion as a Syndicate ship closes in on Faye.

"They are taking her back…with their grappling cord!" Damn…at least she will be alive for a small while. A control panel sparks and burns my arm, the left engine finally gives out as the entire back portion of my cruiser ignites in a stream of flames. I witness vulnerably as I see the Redtail being towed away from Bebop quickly by another ship. I see Faye slumped over in the driver's seat and an idea sparks in my mind.

I press my last resort button, praying that it will work. My cruiser's last words were sending out a tracking bug attaching to the back of the RedTail before it hits the Bebop deck with a crunching thud and a fountain of fire. The last thing I thought was 'They better find her.'

_-to far to reach-_

**-(-**

Ok sorry for the long wait, and yes, No VF Fluff…it's one of those things where 'the longer you wait the better it is'.

And yes, some of Julia's, Vicious' past has been reveled. Needless to say, Shin doesn't like Julia…big surprise (who does?). I had to get inspired for this chapter! don't worry, I will finish this fic definately! There are just a lot of possibilities that I have to filter through to get the best ending….some call that writers block…but I am inspired, so never fear!

Anyway I should have done this last chapter…but here they are R2Rs!

hands out prizes to everyone….they are… Pool Floaties! Its summer! Party!

Azly-chan:  I'm glad you think that Vicious and Faye are cute together, they are a definitely odd pairing, but cool nonetheless thanks for reviewing and I hope you liked this chapter!

Pimpin satan:  yeah Vicious jealous…of andy? Who saw that coming? Hehehe anyway, yes Julia is unfortunately back, but we will see what Vicious has to say about that…and Im happy you drew a connection to the past line where blade said that…coolies! I never really liked Alisa, she could have ended their relationship better than with a damn watch, at least give him some money or something….but hey that's my mind thinking…Thankz for always reviewin!

Blazed: I love it when the minor characters are in the fics, so im glad that I have a fan in that genre! and I really don't think that Jet and Vicious will be that good of buddies, it will take some getting used to…And here is the age old question 'who does like Julia?' believe me I'm not a Julia fan…so lets see what will happen cackles evillythanks for your reviews!

Mae: well I hoped you liked the Vincent chapter cause he was really only in one and a half, anyway, I couldn't help but to put his character in it since him and Vicious were both on Titan. Thanx for reviewing!

Kaelin77: I can tell you think my chapters are suspenseful XD. Well I love a good suspense story, I hope mine will still fit the bill, thank you for reviewing!

Lets-play-with-matches: why does everyone think that lime-jello is creepy?! It tastes really good! Anyway, yes I agree with the whole Michael Jackson impersonator, Electra needs a fashion consultant desperately. And stop spanking Shin! he is just confused! Of course the oggling of Vicious, not much Vicious in this chapter. And yeah, I think the bad guys just like to piss of Vicious because they do a great job…strawberries, don't ask.. thanks for your colorful reviews!

Bunny breath: Hey another new reviewer! And I love your name, even though bunnies scare me sometimes. Anyway, thanks for the fight scene compliment…I try!

Rogue night: WOW eyes get all wide and happy thanks for the review, my goal tada! is to make this seem as CB like as possible while making the difference that spike is unfortunately dead. cries anyway, thanks so much for your uplifting review; it made my r2rs more fun.

Samina: It was really cheesy wasn't it? Oh well, a little ooc now and then never hurt anyone. Besides, we couldn't have him go down silent, that's not the Bebop way! Well, no Faye Vicious fluff, but don't worry…. Thanx for the compliment on the fight scene, I struggled with this one, the first space fight scene ive really tackled thanx for reviewing!!!!!!

If I forgot anyone, im sorry, flame me and yell, its my mistake if I forgot.

Your ff buddy L.O.H.


	9. Code:Passionate

Code: Passionate

**-(-**

            A huge blast rocks me from my sleep and onto the cold floor. What in the hell is going on? I sit up, examining myself over a dull pain batters throughout my whole body. I scowl and move my legs to move into a standing position; which requires more energy than originally anticipated. I push my unruly silver hair from my face and walk calmly to the door. That blast didn't feel like a missile or a bomb, it felt like something it this ship.

            I've been here before…this is Faye's ship, Bob-bop or something inane like that. A small smile appears on my lips; I wonder where Faye is? I begin to walk down the revolving hallway, I hear the cop shouting and cursing, the kid is screaming…I shouldn't go in there, but I want to know if this piece of shit, ship is going to explode or not. I open the door to see Jet look back, his eyes don't narrow or widen, his face painted anxious.

"You can move; help me with Shin." He calls as he dons a space suit and throws one up to my feet. I frown and turn to walk away, why should I help Shin? He betrayed me. I hear the psychotic kid behind me and before I know it, it is latched on to my leg.

"Silver-person, help Shin-person PLEASE! He crashed his ship into Bebop-bebop trying to shoot down baddies!" My eyes widen…the blast…that was Shin's ship. He is probably dead by now. I shoot my eyes back down at the kid with puff-coral hair; its amber eyes are literally pleading with me.

"Generosity is not my strong suit…but…if this has anything to do with the syndicate…then I guess I should go out."  I reluctantly think to myself that I may have wanted an excuse to save him. The kid smiles two times the size of its own head and hands me the suit. I put it on slowly, it hurts to move quickly, and follow that cop out the hangar door.

            What I see; shouldn't surprise me, but it does in an angry, almost taken aback way. His once elite cruiser, now scrap metal, is piled up and floating along the wide deck of this fishing trawler. I see Shin, floating like a corpse in water, out among the wreckage, blood beading up around him like pearls. I propel myself to the wreckage to sort out what happened, noticing that Faye's RedTail, is not in the hangar, and that makes my stomach sink more.

"Tell me who did this." I state, He turns to me after finding Shin's body, that kid is not looking too good. His head is bleeding, and his arm has a bad burn that is welting badly.  His legs are gashed up too, my guess his that he won't have much longer to live. I knew this before I came out here, the magnitude of the blast; I knew he didn't have a snowballs chance in hell of making it.

Then, why, why am I still out here? Hope? No…can't be.

"I don't know. All I know is that they will probably contact us soon and we need to get Shin to a hospital." My eyes narrow. There is only one reason why they would contact us…is if we have something they want, or they have something we want. I clutch my fist as I float over to Jet, but he gruffly refuses my help. I roll my eyes dryly, and float to the wreck. The cruiser is in bad shape, not flyable, but, the ship's hard-disc is in one piece. I pull it out, noticing the tracking locater is blinking though a cracked glass lid.

"Well Shin, it looks like you did something right." I flip up the lid and remove the tracking device…this only means one thing. Faye's ship is gone, Shin's wreck, the tracking locator, one of the syndicates has Faye. I grimace; how could I have let this happen?

            I bet I have been asleep for a fucking week, since Shin was in good condition and he was shot up too. Damnit, I knew things weren't over, but I never expected Julia to pull something like this! Julia is out for blood, mine, she is using Faye as some sort of plan. I float back into the hangar and remove the suit; Jet is treating Shin wounds in the hangar bay.

"I don't suppose you care if he lives or not, do you?" He booms up at me, his hands full of bandages, and Shins blood. I look at him seriously, my mouth straight as an arrow.

"Where are we?" I ask. His eyes widen in disbelief that I didn't answer his question. There was no need to answer his question, because, I do not know the answer. Or, that I don't really want to admit myself the answer yet.

"Orbiting Venus, why?!" He tells me, wrapping Shin's head wound with hasty precision. The syndicate followed us out to Venus, the Red Dragons have a restricted port on Venus and they do business with the old mafias on Venus as well. I have always hated the people in the Syndicate, perhaps even the Syndicate my father took such pride in to build as well, but I have never hated the Syndicate as much as I do now.

"If you care if he lives or not, fly this piece of shit Venus, or he wont live to see another sunset." Shin is lucky we aren't orbiting Earth or something, or he'd be dead. There is a special clinic on Venus that owes me a favor. I walk back with my hard disc and my tracking locator; I will need a computer to plug this into for it to work.

"You know a cheap hospital on Venus?" I turn around, my silver hair reflecting harshly at him; we will need Shin to get back Faye. We need as many people we can get.

"I know of a place…for free. You can't enter, however. If you want Shin to live; I'll have to take him in." I narrow my eyes to remember the last time a cop went in there, he didn't came back out in one piece. I stop for a moment and look at Jet's futile attempt of tending to the burn.

"Stop bandaging his burn, it's the internal bleeding that is killing him." I turn stoically back, No one knows that if I had the right equipment I could, if I so desired, fully heal someone. Fighting on Titan taught me to save and take lives.

"Fine…wait I get it, it's a Syndicate clinic! You have them on planets too?! I don't understand syndicates." He concluded, still trying to contain Shin's bleeding. He should understand Syndicates, I understand the ISSP. The ISSP is a just a hood-ornament for the zip-craft of Mars. Mars thinks it can balance the malevolence of the Syndicates with its ISSP. When, ironically, the ISSP is just as corrupt as the Syndicates. Peirrot le fou is a great example. The syndicates wouldn't experiment or be so devious as to do something like _that_ to a man. The Syndicates are just more upfront with their iniquity than the ISSP.

Perhaps that is why Jet is an ex-cop. He didn't like the fact that the ISSP is corrupt. He couldn't play the game. I grimace inwardly, in all reality, neither could Spike or me.

"If you didn't understand the ISSP, then you wouldn't understand the Syndicates. And if you think that the ISSP will get back Faye you are wrong. Leave this one to me." I begin down the corridor, but before my injured body could react, he thows me up against the wall of the hangar with his metal hand tight on my neck. I look icily down at him.

"And like hell I'll leave this to you! I don't even trust you! You son of a bitch!" His gray eyes are afire with hatred. I scoff mentally, he has no reason not to trust me; He just doesn't like me. I take in a couple breaths and respond before he crushes my windpipe.

"I have been nothing but honest and upfront with you." He puts me down and my failing legs kneel into a crumple under me; I hate being hurt. I carefully stand up, Jet is watching me cautiously. Even if I wanted to hurt him, it'd be difficult to now, my hand brushes up against my empty katana hilt.

"Go find a computer; I'll set us down on Venus." The sooner we heal Shin, the sooner I can get Faye. She will pay this time, the sneaky bitch, a fire sparks inside me. I clench my fist, and they knew I'd be still hurt. They took the only person I believe in this world, and I'm not going to let them keep her. She might be the only woman I trul—

"Wha? You don't know how to fly my ship, no one flies my ship!" He barks, breaking my train of thought, apparently he is very attached to his ship.

"I thought I was possessive." I hiss lowly "Fine I'll go get the computer. Set us down in the city of Pageant." I walk down the hall right as the ship corrects itself and proceeds for permission to dock; I bump into the little….girl?

"Let me see that computer so I can process thi—" The girl, surrounded by the dog and Princess, puts the disc into her computer and scans it. She is a hacker, she will come in handy. Princess trots around to my side and pricks her ear up, happy for some reason.

"Hmm…Tomato says the last entry made by Shin was a scan of the enemy ship…does this look familiar Silver-person?" I ignore the name calling…again…and look at the code of the ship. Just as I thought, EZC-1760, an elite zip-craft of the Red Dragons, only the Red Dragon's codes have four numbers.

"Thanks, now put this in ther—" Her fingers barely touched the tracking device when a communications window popped up without command. A woman centered perfectly in the screen, frowned as her blond hair fell over her shoulders.

"Julia…." I spit, the bitch, she has the audacity to do this! Julia better not harm Faye. Princess, at my side, growls feral. Her one ear is now cemented to her head. Julia will pay for what she has done, I am through avoiding her as a memory.

(POV change)

"Vicious, I don't even get a hello? The nicer you are; the better off Faye is." Julia sweeps smoothly with her sickeningly smooth voice. How dare she use me like this. I am so stupid for not paying closer attention in that battle! But that doesn't matter, Vicious is ok.

"What do you want Julia?" He quips, I can barely see his pissed off face in the monitor, man they are going to get it when he decides to bust some heads. I struggle against the hold of this man with a long dark ponytail, but I cant get free. Then I notice it, Vicious' katana, it's next to the man.

"Vicious, I want you to suffer. Daemon." She icily motions with her snow white hand. I am pushed in front of the monitor; a smile appears on my tired lips, but not for long. Before I could actually enjoy seeing Vicious, alive and well, and who I love so much, a blade is pressed to my throat, it's Vicious' katana.

"If you harm her Julia, I'll have to problem chopping your body into bits." My eyes widen as I notice that Vicious means it. His usually calm gray eyes are fiery again, like when Vincent came, but they have a seriousness to them that makes it all the more menacing.

"Like Spike's body? You will be having a hard time of chopping without your katana." Julia smirks and Daemon apathetically brings the katana closer to my neck, drawing a bead of blood. I kick at her with my leg, but miss. She smirks slightly and almost laughs.

"Vicious, I'm fine. She is just trying to make you do something stupid!" I yell at him, my tangled violet hair framing my furious face. How dare she want to kill Vicious out of revenge for Spike… It's her fault too! If she hadn't cheated on Vicious, then this wouldn't have happened! Vicious wouldn't have turned so sadistic; he would have stayed himself!

"Faye, I know Julia, she is uncreative and deranged." Vicious almost rolls his eyes. I crack a short lived smile that doesn't make it to my eyes. I know that Vicious isn't stupid, but if this guy Daemon is the Red Dragon leader; then he is up against two Syndicates. My heart sinks, I won't let Vicious sacrifice himself just because I screwed up.

"Uncreative? Really, because that's not what you said when we were dating." Her thin, ruby lips grin as I feel a fire erupt in me like a volcano. She did not just bring up Vicious and she dating! I writhe my body towards the snake, seething, trying to land in a kick.

"You stupid bitch! You can't get revenge on Vicious for Spike's death that you played a part in!" She whips around, her flat gold hair spins and her small hand slaps me hard on my face, my cheek stings mildly. I constrict my emerald eyes as Daemon behind me looks on in disinterest. If he weren't holding me I'd beat the shit out of her.

"Julia you are wearing on my last nerve! Touch her again an—" Julia unfortunately cuts off Vicious shouting. Vicious rarely shouts, unless I'm pissing him off.

"Or what Vicious? I beat you. I'm holding all the cards. I have your whore Faye, I have my own Syndicate, plus the Red Dragon Syndicate that your own _father_ helped build, even this stupid katana. You have nothing, except Spike's old burned out cop friend. Even Shin…yes poor Shin, is dead." My heart drops, Shin is dead. Is he really? I remember, his zipcraft was on fire and was spinning out of control. Without Shin, not only do Jet and Vicious have less of a chance of surviving, but I lost someone I cared about to Julia!

"Julia you'll pay for Shin! I swear if it's the last thing I do I'll break your fucking neck!" I scream, she killed Shin, I can't believe it, my disciplined eyes are holding back tears…Shin was my friend, yeah sure he screwed up, but so does Jet and I. I loved Shin like a brother, he was nice to be around, he didn't call me shrew, and he was always there.

"Julia…how…naïve. If you think that I am not capable of defeating your Syndicate plus the Red Dragons, you have underestimated my abilities and cunning. I will not be defeated in this battle Julia, just wait and see." Vicious is hiding something. He has a plan! I knew he had one, I just hope it is better than Julia's plans are.

"Oh, what makes you so confident Vicious? Have an army? Oh…think the ISSP will help? Or do you have some sort of superhuman powers? Tell me, what makes you so arrogant?" She pauses for effect, how dramatic; you think this is some sort of soap opera. "You have three days Vicious, starting tomorrow to come here, or I'll kill her."

"I have something that you desperately lack, honor and integrity." I see a glimpse of Princess having some sort of doggy fit, which made Vicious' little one liner seem comical, the opposite intention I knew he wanted. In spite of how hilarious it is seeing a dog flip through the air barking and chasing her tail, I'm in no mood for laughing, my world, at this very moment, is crashing down around me…

            Yet I have to let Vicious know something, something that has been pounding in my chest for hours. I might never see him again, so...he at least has to know one thing. I cleared my throat, Vicious can't do this alone, so I will help in everyway I can.

"Vicious Inverno, I love you! Dammit, don't you forget it, I don't say that everyday!" I yelled as loud and as confidently as I could at his image in the monitor, my eyes are filling with a renewed strength. After all this, I finally admitted it. I glared over to Julia, I don't care how just her cause might be, Spike is sadly dead, nothing will change that. And I love Vicious and nothing will ever change that. I don't care what she thinks of the event two years and ten months ago; I will not let her kill Vicious for something that she had a hand in herself!

            Julia's dank blue eyes narrow the least bit at me, I glare right back at her, Vicious' katana is still against my throat, but Daemon seems like he could care less. He is odd; I wonder why he is even helping out Julia in the first place.

"Well Vicious looks like your who–" Julia started, but stopped as she notices Vicious facial expression. He is smiling faintly; he almost seemed surprised. His once gray eyes are as silver as his hair, the exact color! Both his hair and his eyes shine iridescently as if he has been reborn. Does he feel the same about me? Damn I didn't even think about that before I said I loved him! Stupid Faye, stupid Faye...why would he feel the same?

"I'll be there in the allotted time, Julia. Make sure you are ready when it is time for me to kill you." His silver eyes flash over to me and I glance up my emerald eyes gleaming as he whispers a phrase I almost didn't catch. "Ti amo anche." His lips roll over the words as if testing them out after a long time, then the monitor goes blank.

            Ti amo anche...that's...Italian! I didn't know he knew Italian! Ti amo anche means…my heart does a backflip. I feel I'm weightless and nothing could pull me down. Ti amo anche means, I love you too! Everything should've been perfect when he said those words, not over an internet conversation after the notice of Shin's death! I frown.

"What did he say?!" Julia snapped. I felt the katana being taken away from my throat, but I know that trying to escape will only lead to certain death. At least, escaping right now... I continue to ignore Julia's questions as my eyes land on the icy demeanor of Daemon. Something is not adding up...If he was on Titan with Vicious, why doesn't Daemon have resentment towards Vicious? Though, I'm in such a conflicted mood I don't think further.

"I will not ask you again, Vicious' whore, what did he say?!" I clench my fist secretly, the guards surrounding the room armed with nasty looking guns, prevent me from swinging my clenched fist at her jaw. Instead I look at her, with faux innocent eyes.

"I don't know, I thought he was talking to Daemon..." I turn to him, Daemon's dark eyes narrow to Julia reluctantly. Julia moves silently and removes from her black dress a small gun. I look the other way, trying to come up with a good escape plan to help Vicious

"What happened on Titan between you and Vicious? You have not told me." Her sickening velvety voice creeps past me like a miasma. He rolls his eyes, and touches his Red Dragon emblem. I bet he was there ten months ago when I was separated from Vicious. Vicious…please…don't be stupid like Spike…

"Julia just because I am doing you a favor does not mean you can pry. If you think for a moment that I give a rats shit about you and your pathetic love revenge scheme, you are delusional. I came here for business and I leave here for business." He turns and walks away, sheathing Vicious' katana in a new sheathe while leaving. I smirk, Julia is slack-jawed that someone had the audacity to say that to her.

_-Forever-_

**-(-**

Well, this chapter was a little longer than the rest because I had to cover a whole bunch of stuff. I hope you are not too confused at this point, if you have questions just review and tell me and ill answer them as best I can.

            And don't worry…there will be some other characters who make a second appearance….XD I'm not telling who they are though.

I hope you liked this chapter! Please review and tell me what you think!

your buddy L.O.H.


	10. Code:Awaken

Code: awaken

**-(-**

Blip.…..blip…..blip….blip..blip…blip…blip…blip… My thoughts gradually coagulate in my head as I slowly open my lead-heavy eyelids. My teal eyes spurt open for air as I realize I am miraculously alive. Jet must have really pulled some strings, cause this hospital is very hi-tech. I notice all the highly advanced devices and supplies, and even some newer improved upon equipment, shining like soldiers in the slanted morning light. My room, for the most part, is sparse. My clothes are in the chair beside my bed to my right, my IV dispenser on the desk to my left, the Silver Circle Clinic's logo above the door.

"Wait a minute…the Silver Circle Clinic…this organization is heavily tied to the Red Dragons. The Silver Circle Clinic is a front for the solar system renowned Mr. Kaze, the hitman employer." I choke out, my voice clogged of lack of use. I sit up in my bed lazily, the exact time a nurse comes through the door.

"Sheryl come quick, that super cutie in room 10 has woken up!" A nurse with the name tag 'Venice' skips over to me, her red curly hair bouncing around her light blue eyes as she injects me with something I don't quite recognize. She smiles excitedly, I wonder how long I have been here….a week…a month…how long?!

"I'll be right there Venice, I'm just callin' that other cutie who brought him in! He wanted to know when he would wake up!" Another, even higher pitched voice if that is possible, squealed to Venice in here with me. My ears are ringing and I've only been conscious for a few minutes.

"How long have I been asleep?" I ask quickly as Venice looks at me and laughs.

"You? Only about a day or two…it was mostly cause our new equipment and serums finally came in…Your friend wanted to make sure you made it, he isn't that bad looking either, but I can tell that he has someone to go home too…." Venice went rambling on as I tried to remember the last thing that I did. I was in my zipcraft, I know I was shooting a Syndicate ship. Faye was there….Wait…Faye! Goddamn it, I need to make sure that Vicious knows about Faye!

"The man who brought me in, did he have silver hair?" She looked at me as if I were crazy, oh…so it must have been Jet. Wait does Jet have ties to Silver Circle Clinic? Just then the other nurse, with cropped brown hair and hazel eyes came bustling in.

"That gorgeous man, with the silver hair, is coming to pick him up right now!" Venice and the nurse I could only assume to be Sheryl, jump up and down squealing. They must not get to see a lot of men in this clinic or something, 'cause these women are going insane.

"I guess that answers my question." I begin to unstrap myself from my bed, frowning at the hospital smock I have on…I've always hated these things. Venice turns to look at me and immediately helps me to gently take out my IVs and other contraptions I didn't know existed.

"The man did tell the doctor he was in a hurry…Big surprise, everyone who comes in this clinic is. Somewhere to go, someone to meet—" Venice said

"Someone to kill." Sheryl completed and Venice sighed. "But you don't look like the killing type, or the hating type. At first glance your silver haired buddy did, but he had a glint in his silver eyes that made me think otherwise." Sheryl put a manicured finger to her purple painted lips.

"You two aren't very usual in this place; it's nice to have a breath of fresh air!" Sheryl beamed and Venice and I finished up. But before I could try out my legs to see if I could stand, Venice stops me.

"Are you crazy or somethin'? You broke your left ankle in three places; you can't walk on that even with this new equipment!" I made a gesture to protest, when the immaculate white room was silenced by the arrival of my 'friend' Vicious. Though, I hate to admit it, I probably owe my life to the guy.

I look at him before he has a chance to speak. His long silver hair, which has grown out past shoulder length is slightly tangled and pulled back into a horsetail, revealing his forehead bullet wound. I inwardly frown that is what Spike did; Spike could have been just as ruthless and deadly as Vicious can. Something else though pulls me away from his scar, sure enough he looks different. I can't put a finger on it, but he doesn't look like the crazy killer Vicious that I have witnessed for the past six years, he looks like…He looks like the old Vicious, the Vicious before Julia.

"Why hello there handsome—" Sheryl, Vicious fan club president, was cut off

"Sorry, but I need to talk to him in private." Vicious usual chilly voice laced with a slight tinge of something implacable, filtered through the morning sunlight. Sheryl and Venice, nodded with practice, and left the room smiling slightly. I soon find myself angry, for no reason at all except we left something open that needs to be closed. The something that has just come to mind is Lin.

"Hold on Vicious, I need to know something and you better tell me! I need to know if you really killed Lin!" My sharp voice cuts through the sunlight rendering shade upon the ivory walls. Vicious doesn't look surprised, but he doesn't want to discuss it now, I can tell.

"I didn't kill Lin. He took a bullet for me when Gren tried to shoot me." Vicious candid voice mocked my angry tone as I put on my clothes, in spite of my ankle. I feel pain in my ankle; I won't let him see me wince though.

"How do I know it's the truth?! I only have your word cause Gren and Lin and even Spike is dead! You liar, you could just be covering your own ass!" My voice quips like lightening, striking him like a wake-up call. Then I realized I had gone too far, he sweeps across the room and hold me up by my shirt collar, his piercing titanium eyes impale my mind with sickening clarity.

"You are right, you only have my word, but let me remind you Shin that I have never lied to you." Vicious put me down, but his eyes still remain in small silver slivers. He stands imperially in front of me, his lips in a taught line with his empty katana hilt. I feel somewhat guilty, Vicious has always been honest, viciously honest; he has never lied to me. But those weird dreams I have keep plaguing my mind. Then again, who died and made Julia the honest angel?

"Faye, I suppose you know she has been kidnapped right? Do you have a plan or what?" I utter, changing the subject and breaking the dense as fog silence. He nods slightly, a few strands of his silver bangs, escape from his horsetail and hang framing his angular face.

"Faye is being held in the Black Falcon Syndicate compound, and Julia put on a quite uncharacteristic show. She has a plan that includes Daemon. So we are going to storm the Red Dragon main compound, and simply take it out from under Daemon." I nearly drop my jaw, he is planning to take over a Syndicate…again?

"How does that make any sense at all?" I argue. This has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. It will never work…

"Simple, Julia is expecting us in less than 36 hours. The defense will be heaviest at night because she thinks we are going to go stealth. The only way we can beat Julia, is at her own game; If we can get a big enough distraction." Vicious concludes with a flourish of icy revenge.

"So, you are saying; you're going to recruit Red Dragon men to fly their zip crafts and attack the main Black Falcon compound! How are you going to pull that off? They wont listen to you they have no reason too!" My teal eyes widen in indignation.

"Shin, they won't listen to me, they will listen to you. Daemon's displays of domination, so I have learned, have not waned since he blew up the last compound. They will listen to you because you represent the leader that the old syndicate members respect." Vicious cunning voice blows upon me like a thunder cloud; I can't believe it. I thought Vicious wanted the leader job, doesn't he? He wanted to be the flawless leader like his father.

"I'm no orator, I can't lead an attack! That was Lin's job, or yours! It won't work, they wont listen to me of all people!" I protest, there has got to be another way, a more sensible way, we could maybe involve the ISSP or…go rent some zipcrafts…

"Shin, it is time for you to get out of Lin's shadow. If I did not think you were able to do this, I would have left you for dead." I am slightly pissed by Vicious' choice of wording, but then I realize, he is right. It's time for me to swing the bat. It's time for me to prove what I have learned, so I can save Faye, and possibly a whole Syndicate from annihilation.

(POV change)

"Ok, I'll do it. Just don't be an ass about it." He frowned, smoothing back his ruffled hair with his hand. He has changed. A year ago I would have never thought he could lead an attack, but now, after this whole fucking ordeal, he seems prepared.

I turn to the window, to the skyline of Pageant. Venus has a great deal of innocent life, so unlike the crime riddled Mars. I crack a small grin at least I got that straight. Shin will be able to lead the attack, at least with the information that Mr. Kaze has just told me. He told me that Daemon has one thing in mind, and that is total control of Tharsis then Mars.

He is ruthless and emotionless, much like I was for a time, and that is what is most unsettling. I know what he is capable of, not just because he was like me, but because on Titan. He would paint the sky with the blood of his comrades before admitting defeat. I turn from the window, looking at the chrome instruments while Shin stretches his healing body.

Daemon cares about absolutely nothing, but power. He thinks that there is nothing in the world worth believing in…I was like that, I still carry apart of that outlook with me now; it has just faded. I realize that those three words I said to Faye, might have been the most fateful I have ever said. I know Julia knows what I said. I said those same words to her and told her what they meant. Julia put on a charade, and I fell for it purposefully, but that did not mean I was not genuinely enraged. Daemon, holding my katana to the throat of my spirited Faye made me want to rip out his intestines with my bare hand. Daemon is apathetic and ruthless as a stone blade, I clench my fist, it brushes up against my empty katana sheathe.

That is precisely why the Red Dragon Syndicate members want a new leader, they are afraid that he will sacrifice each and every one of them for his cause. And to think that Julia, is offering some deal to him in order for him, to help her, kill me…too much power for Daemon to pass up.

The way Julia purposely was callous towards Faye, and probably towards Daemon means one thing; she wants to start a fight between him and I. I reveal a sadistic smirk; I will get my katana back and dismember the Red Dragon's reprehensible leader. My eyes narrow, looking off into a random part of wall in the immaculate Venusian clinic, Julia wants Daemon to do her dirty-work; I bet Julia is even reluctant to see me. She wants to close the door to our past, but she doesn't want to do it herself. I notice out of the corner of my silver eye that Shin winces as he stands up.

"Get your crutches and let's go; we need to pick someone up before we put into effect our plan." I state simply, I cannot afford to waste emotion on Shin right now, a leader must be calm and detached, therefore, the least amount of emotion I show Shin, the better.

My thoughts drift over to Faye, but I brush her out of my head reluctantly…I am still not sure if saying those words to her were a good thing or not, I have never felt this way before, the last thing I want to happen is to be dependant on someone. The last few people I was the _least_ bit dependant on ended up dead or trying to kill me.

"Who are we picking up? Jet?" Shin asks as he finds the crutches in the corner of the room where his clothes were and hobbles over with me towards the exit. My heavy legs sift through the air and walk down the hall beside Shin. All my limbs are starting to ache from lack of rest.

"I have to fulfill an agreement. We are taking Mr. Kaze's son with us on this mission so Mr. Kaze's son doesn't get 'rusty'." I cringe at the thought of having this man come with me on this mission, but a deal is a deal. And he does know a bit about fighting, I know from experience. Though, the reliability question is still unresolved, I don't trust this guy.

"Who is the guy?" Shin asks as we exit the clinic into the hanging gardens known as the Venus atmosphere, getting tearful goodbyes from the two nurses. Shin waves goodbye to the red-haired one and, she squeals. Shin goofily grins and I shake my head.

"Andy, the friend of Faye's from Phoenix is ironically my employer's son." I let my eyes roll, I think I'll have to duct tape Andy's mouth shut as we go to Tharsis, the idiot can't shut up and he has some sort of memory problem. I see Shin chuckle a little out loud as we near the zip craft I stole. It is silver and gray, the same basic make as the syndicates only a little bigger. It wasn't my fault the guy made his zip craft so easy to hotwire.

As I near the windows of the zip-craft I notice that my forehead scar is visible with my silver hair pulled back. I almost put a finger to it, but that would be stupid. That scar will never fade, and neither will the memories of that night, the suffocating realization that everything came out wrong that I ever wanted to be right. It was true what I said to Faye all those months ago; I didn't want it to end that way, but it had to end that way. Spike and I were doomed for that fight since he ran off with Julia, but what makes me feel livid the most is, I did not do _anything_ to prevent the fight.

I didn't do anything to prevent it, and that's why all those irksome people died, Gren, Lin, Spike… I guess even Vincent. I just wanted 'the dream' to take its toll and to let everything play out, like Spike eventually did; that is the one mistake I will never make again. Life isn't a fuck dream…and because I thought it was, I almost died. I'm still missing a part of myself that I am slowly regaining. I turn from my reflection in the mirror, I feel my legs sting a small bit; I might have re-opened my wounds.

"Andy huh? Jet told me about him, he said he used to be a bounty hunter. Andy and Spike didn't get along one bit, mostly 'cause Andy pissed Spike off too much." Shin grinned, his slanted teal eyes showing some emotion. I could imagine that the Spike-look-a-like would press a few of Spike's buttons. That odd bastard Andy…

I walk evenly to the zip craft, trying my hardest to not show fatigue. Even though I was unconscious for about a week and a half; I am still getting over my numerous injuries and I feel very drained. Though I would never admit to anyone that is the case.

"Vicious…did you steal this; I didn't figure yourself to sink so low as to steal!" Shin laughs as he nears the passenger side. I accidentally let out a smirk, Shin always seems to invoke humor in me….always…it's annoying.

"Very funny, you're driving." Shin looks wide-eyed at me as he switches sides and sits in the driver's seat. Throwing his crutches in the backseat, he starts up the familiar engine and presses down on the accelerator, good thing it's not his right ankle that's broken.

Fluidly as possible, I sit down in the passenger seat, my sore legs; still recuperating from the gunshots, collapse into the floorboard. I hear the hum of the engine and the whirring of the thrusters as we propel off. I don't look at my legs, just out the window, trying to get some rest before I have to fight.

"Hey Vicious we are heading to Phoenix ri—whoa Vicious, your legs, they are bleeding!" I look down lazily, sure enough blood is seeping out staining my pants permanently. I grumble, today just isn't my day, and Shin pretending to be worried is not helping me ignore my injuries either

After all…they are really only minor.

"It's fine, it's not serious, keep driving. It'll stop…eventually." I lean back in my chair, Shin looking at me with a 'you are an arrogant idiot' look, but I ignore him and close my eyes. We are already behind schedule and every minute we waste, means that Faye will be with that sociopath, Daemon, even longer. My facial expression softens a small bit, Faye shouldn't worry, lest they forget, they call me Vicious for a very good reason.

"Hey Vicious, since you don't have your katana, are you gonna use a gun?" Shin asks innocently, I roll my closed eyes.

"No, I'll find something." I clip out, weapons don't matter, I will infiltrate the compound with a trashcan lid if I have to. My choice of weapon really doesn't concern me, what does concern me is that Jet and Ed are not going to hold up their end of the plan.

Since breaking into a syndicate compound to steal its zipcrafts is nearly impossible without the codes, I told the girl to hack into it's mainframe to shut down all the security systems. It should be a simple procedure, but cops have the irritating tendency to fuck simple stuff up.

Cops…I don't trust a single damn one.

I open one eye to see Shin dart his eyes away from me quickly, I don't entirely trust him either…I relax my shoulders and try to get some rest before we land in Phoenix, but I'm not going to fall asleep. If I fall asleep, who knows where Shin might take me. I tightly shut my pensive eyes and succumb to my thoughts of Faye that I have been trying to ignore. It's almost unnerving; where she is, and how I didn't do a single thing to help her.

_-here alone again-_

**-(-**

AN: Sorry for the looooooong wait, but our power went out and ffnet has been having a conniption fit…But don't useless filler chapters rock?! My summer school is keeping me occupied so I'm sorry if I am slow to update… ()

XD yeah…sorry, this one was slow because I had to tie up some loose ends and I just thought that this would be a good time to set the mood for the final few chapters. Heehee I hope you like them, prepare to be surprised….I hope…geez, you better be surprised! XD

Oh recently I have discovered the ultimate food….!FUNNEL CAKE! …I have tried it before, don't get me wrong…but I have never liked it till now…. hypnotizes readers to get me funnel cake and review

Well…nothing else new…after this CB fic I will lay low in the CB range while I finally write out some other fics in other genres I have been cooking up…..yay!

Well….please….read and review, and one last shout out, sorry about Ed not having a huge roll in this fic, it's sad…but I am proud of myself for giving Shin such a large roll puffs out chest I am making up for it with some….well…you figured it out by now…Julia butt-kicking….XD just wait and see.

Well, I got to Jet!

Ja Ne!

your ffbuddy L.O.H.__


	11. Code:Decision

Code: Decision

I swing the candlestick at the vent again. It's been almost two whole days since I last saw Vicious' tired face on the monitor, and I hope with all my might that he has some sort of plan. They threw me in a containment room with Alisa, the woman who was with Shin in my apartment. I don't know why she is in here, but I bet she screwed up and someone got mad. A hundred woolongs says it was Julia, that bitch; she killed Shin.

Shin…it wasn't fair he had to die, it just wasn't. He was only trying to protect Jet and I; Julia will pay for Shin's death. I swing the candlestick at the airvent again, only to feel a pair of sepia eyes on my back. I sneer; she hasn't helped me try to escape since I woke up a few hours ago. After the transmission with Vicious, Daemon roughly knocked me unconscious and I woke up in this cell type bedroom.

Talk about a nice host.

"What the fuck are you looking at?!" I yelled loudly as the woman across the room from me scowled and rolled her eyes. I put down the brass candle stick to my side and scorn at her, at least I am trying to escape; she is just sitting on that bench looking all sad and despondent. Cry me a river! I want to live and get out of this!

"Nothing…but you know it's useless, not even Vicious or Jet could penetrate this fortress." I narrow my eyes, wow, isn't she little miss optimist?! Well, actually I'm glad she isn't an optimist; those people bother the hell out of me. I tighten my grip on my dented candlestick and choke down a lump in my throat as I envision Vicious being shot down outside of the syndicate compound, right as we actually admitted to loving each other.

I am NOT about to let that happen.

"Yeah, I know they can't do it ALONE; that is why I'm trying to help them by escaping! You could help instead of just sitting on your self-pitying ass!" I raise the brass candlestick and arc it around my back like a baseball bat. The candlestick is the only weapon I could find, so it will have to do. With another mighty swing, I try to dislodge a vent, I've dented the thing up, but it hasn't come loose yet. Damn, they make these vents good.

"What's the use anyway, I'm totally broke; I don't have the money to bribe Rhent out of jail. And even if we escape I only know the codes for one of the doors anyway." I whip around to face her. My eyes flash emerald, she actually knows some codes?! I nearly drop my candlestick, why didn't she tell me that before?

"Which door?! Tell me!" I take a step to her, even if that door doesn't help much, maybe we can use the same code and it will work in another door. It's worth a shot. I brush my violet locks behind my ears, thinking of where to go after we get out of this containment room.

"The zipcraft bunker, but that is one the Southern Wing, and we are on the Eastern Wing, we'd have to go by dozens of guys." Alisa somberly noted. I growled to myself. Think Valentine think!

The zipcraft bunker, we need some sort of distraction to get us there. But first, we need to get out of _here_. If only Ed was with me, then we would be out of here in no time. All she'd have to do is type with her little Tomato and poof we are out. Just then, the alarms went off and all the doors opened. Wow, talk about mysteriously on queue…

Ha, I knew Ed would come through!

"Security override in hallways 6, 8, 9a and 10; someone hacked into our system! Quickly seal all the doors manually!" Before the guard could close our door, I whack him upside the head with my weapon of choice, candlestick, and drag Alisa down the hallway.

"This way Alisa to the right!" My eyes go wide; I realize that the halls are heavily guarded. We are about face to face with seven guards, armed with fully automatic guns, safeties clicked. I forgot how much I hated stupid syndicate people. I take a hesitant step back, and Alisa's side brushes up against a box protruding from the wall.

"Oh shit!" Just when I was about to run and duck, Alisa to the left of me, punches through some glass and the fire alarm went off. Then I saw her take something from the glass, a high powered hose.

"Take this!" She turned on the fire hose and the disoriented Syndicate lackeys got blasted into each other, letting me get the upper hand in personally kicking their ass.

_Whack, wham, whip, bang, kick, punch, thwack,_ I subdued the guys with some quick easy blows. It really wasn't fair; the odds were so not in their favor. I smirk and turn to Alisa who smiled, as if remember what it felt like to take control of a situation and overcome it.

"Nice, but we need to hurry up to get the bunker door open in time! If we wait too long, they will get reorganized and your friends won't make it!" I picked up a pistol, made sure it had ammo, and followed Alisa down the blinking red corridor. 'Vicious better be ok, or I will personally wring Daemon's neck myself!

"Here it is, Faye, the bunker." I smiled in realization that my RedTail was in fact securely kept right in this very bunker. After all that has happened to the RedTail, including it exploding all those months ago in a poor diversion technique. No need to be reminiscing right now, I need to get the hangar open! I look into the immense room, cluttered with zip crafts of all sizes, but mostly with the kind of zip crafts that Shin owned. Before I could run to my Red Tail and blast my way out, I hear an all too familiar click.

'Click' Oh shit, did I miss a guard? No problem it's not like it's….I whip around to see the Daemon himself, holding Alisa as a shield with his gun.

"I do not think you will be going anywhere Valentine." Daemon hisses as the barrel of his gun presses effortlessly farther into Alisa's temple. She was visibly struggling against her captor, but he seemed oblivious. He is tough, like Vincent tough, like Spike tough….I just pray to whatever god there is that he isn't Vicious tough.

"We will see about that Daemon, you bastard snake!" I hold out my own gun, a deep snarl stains my features as I click my safety and aim at his flaming, grinning face. His deep set black eyes reflect back at me like a dark mirror. He apparently has one thing in mind, getting what he wants, at any cost.

"Sorry, but in order for this plan to work, we unfortunately need you…alive….So if could just put your gun down so I can be on my way…" Daemon cooed as if trying to convince a three year old to eat vegetables. Alisa's face was sketched in complete fear and I felt my hand on my gun begin to shake. I put my gun to my side; I don't have too much of a choice. My emerald eyes flash.

"What is your fucking plan anyway?! What is going on here!!" I scream at him, his small smile shows his teeth, which I swear have two fangs. He utters a small chuckle and Alisa utters a small gasp.

"My plan is to be the greatest. And if obtaining that greatness means helping take down a silver-haired has-been and his little friends as well, then so be it." Daemon's icy voice rang across the hangar like an eerie requiem. I felt my blood boil; this is nothing but some game to him, like some stupid chess game!

"You bastard, the only thing you will be great at is dying right here in this very compound once I'm through with you!!" I screamed at him, he loosened his grip on Alisa slightly; it looks like she will be alright. His black eyes narrow at mine like daggers.

"If I die, I won't be going alone. But don't worry; I won't be dying any time soon, not by that washed up Vicious, and especially not by you." Daemon gave a crooked smirk as he pulled the trigger. The only thing I could think of doing was pulling my eyes away as Alisa's bloody body fell heavily to the ground in a crimson heap. He killed her, that son of a fucking bitch killed her, just to prove a point!

"Faye, you must realize, that it is impossible for me to loose." His words echoed in my ears as my stomach turned over. I ironically realized that the only reason why I am alive right now is because of Julia. I felt my weighted legs drag me nauseously towards the exit. There is nothing I can do now, but that does not mean that my chance won't come soon.

(POV change)

"Where are we going again?" Andy drawls in the back seat, I could tell that Vicious' thin layer of patience is already gone as the silver haired man turns icily back to the annoying spike-look like. It really is amazing how much Spike and Andy looked alike, and acted alike. I inwardly sigh, that is probably why Vicious is so pissed off.

"Tharsis. Your father wants you to come with us so you can actually do something with your time." Vicious hisses back at the laid-back Andy who just grins and props his feet up on the console between Vicious and I.

"You know my father? Do I know you?!" Vicious clenches his fist, obviously Vicious has met him before, and this dense guy can't remember.

"Yes you do, I am Vicious, the one who attacked you in Faye's apartment…" I chuckle a little and Vicious just glares, the questions have been shooting back and forth between them since we tracked him down in Phoenix. My thoughts drift to Faye though, Ed said she hacked into the security system, but I don't know if Vicious' plan to 'tip them off that we are coming' is such a good idea. I mean, won't that give them time too beef up their security?

"You don't say. By the look on your face I'd say I whooped you pretty bad. I'm Andy the samurai chef by the way." My teal eyes widen that he fact that Andy could have bested Vicious in anything, so I decide to help Andy in torturing Vicious.

"You beat Vicious in a battle Andy?! How did you do it?!" I actually hear Vicious snarl from the passenger seat, not taking a liking to the conversation any.

"Well, you know, I am a samurai. I just used my superior skills of sword-wielding and my intellect to find his weaknesses and use them to my advantage. Why I just…did some—" Andy arrogantly adds, while Vicious fumes in the passenger seat, his eyes narrowed into slits, probably thinking of the best way to kill Andy and make it look like an accident. I would have listened more, but I notice that the Red Dragon Syndicate complex is in sight.

"Yo Vicious, this plan of yours better work…" Vicious turns to me, his silver eyes gleaming with an eerie sensation. Well, at least Vicious looks ready. Andy notices and finally shuts up. Immediately a person's face is in clear view on the communicator.

"State your business and your clearance code." The man said in a bored, voice, expecting the same response, business, then the code. Vicious took the communicator from the ship's panel and spoke into it with a cold voice. I could just tell that the guy on the other line was going to shit his pants.

"Shin and I have come to take over this pathetic excuse for a syndicate, and if you think I need a clearance code to get into a syndicate I used to belong to, you are dead wrong." The man on the other line's mouth gapes at the sight. Everyone knows whoVicious is, and they know who I am too. Vicious is a legend, a legend who is supposed to be dead.

"So, what are you going to do?" Vicious asks in a mocking tone as three other men enter the screen, apparently in disarray, not expecting a house call from two dead guys. Vicious hands the communicator over to me as I land my zipcraft in the middle of the syndicate compound noiselessly.

"You…Shin?! and Vicious here? What do you want?!" The man on the other line stutters out, not really sure of what action to take. I smile, if I were in his shoes I would have shot down the zip craft, but something tells me that they don't have the man power to do that since half of their troops are with Julia and Daemon.

"Well I think Vicious already said that. I am here to become your new leader. Daemon is no longer suitable for a leader. So, I am going to make sure that the Red Dragon's stay a prominent syndicate, but with a price." I smoothly spoke, though my hear must be beating erratically. I have never done this sort of thing before, but by the calm, confident look on Vicious' chiseled features, I'd say I'm doing a pretty good job.

"You are going to create another coup? Are you crazy?! Even if Daemon is a crappy leader, the last coup ended up in almost destroying the syndicate!" I frown; I didn't expect this guy to actually do his homework. I was about to protest, but Vicious calmly interjected.

"The coup didn't destroy the syndicate, it resurrected it. The elders are what almost destroyed the syndicate by killing my father and appointing that fool Mao Yenrai as the leader, which lead to the oh so popular leader, Blade. So, answer this, would you rather have Shin as your leader, or some sociopath who would pave the streets with your blood to boost his reputation and power?" I turn to Vicious' almost slack-jawed. Is it fair that Vicious always seems to know what to say? I watched as the original person who communicated with us, was replaced by the leading elite.

"What is your price Shin Tashjian and Vicious Inverno?" The tall, red headed elite asks. His cold eyes dart between Vicious and I warily. I push my black hair back with my fingers and smirk a little. They were finally cooperating its good that all these Syndicate lackeys are newbies. I inwardly sigh, the syndicate ain't what it used to be.

"Fifteen Zip crafts, and fifteen volunteers to fly them." I calmly slide. The man on the other end begins to deliberate with the others quietly; Vicious next to me just stares with his sliver eyes at the screen. I look back to Andy and sweat drop. He is asleep. The stupid bastard!

"These zip crafts are to attack the Black Falcon Syndicate complex…am I not correct?" The red head elite member asks lowly.

"Yes, They stole something that belongs to Vicious, and he would like it back. The only way is through Julia and Daemon." I paused "But, we could just leave Daemon alive, and he could remain your leader, dragging the name of the Red Dragons through the mud of Tharsis." I finish my speech. I am really not used to talking like this. This is more like Vicious' line of work, but who am I to complain? I get to be a head of a Syndicate….

But…What if that isn't what it's cracked up to be? Am I just being a hypocrite? I have been wanting to get away from the Syndicate my whole life, and here I am, voluntarily becoming the leader! I know that the syndicate was Lin's and my home for our entire lives…and becoming the leader of a Syndicate would be a great honor, not to mention a great pay…but…The syndicate is evil isn't it?

"I see...well I suppose we could round up a few volunteers…but are you ready to do what you say you are going to do? Are you actually going to kill Daemon, kill Julia, and lead this Syndicate perfectly?" I felt a lump in my throat. This is my decision to make, all my life it seems like my life has been going in one direction this entire time, and now…now I finally have a fork in the road. I could end it here, and slip away, leaving Vicious, Jet, Ed, Andy and Faye out to dry. Or I could actually go along with Vicious' insane plan, and see where the wind blows me.

"I shall be your leader, and Vicious shall help me in murdering Daemon and Julia." Vicious grinned, his silver eyes flashing. He knew that I had just made my final decision, and that it wasn't an easy one. The tall red head turned to three other elites, one other red headed woman, who reminded me of Venice back at the Silver Circle Clinic, and a short black haired man with a goatee.

"Very well then Shin Tashjian, Vicious Inverno, good luck in your plan. We will supply the pilots and ships, but the rest is up to you." The red headed man smiled. Vicious shifted in his seat.

"They call me Vicious for a reason." Vicious stated with a titanium precision that seemed to pierce the strongest steel.

"So I have heard." Right as the red-heads face disappeared from the screen; the hangar door opened and out flew fifteen zip crafts like bats against the harsh night. I started my zip craft back up, and I began to feel my adrenaline rush through my veins like a tidal surge. I accelerated west, towards the Black Falcon compound. I never would have thought that it would end this way. That I would be fighting along side Vicious of all people. I was brought up to fear him, but now I can't seem to hate him, much less fear him. Of course Vicious is intimidating and not to be fucked with, but so was Spike. It is so very odd.

"Vicious, when we were in the syndicate did you ever feel like you were living in Spike's shadow?" I ask him before I even had the inkling of what was coming out of my mouth. Shit! I should really think about what I say before I say it!

"Me? No. People favored Spike and often compared me to him, but we were partners. And partners are equal; one is never in the other's shadow. Though, that was a long time ago, and I no longer consider Spike a friend." I let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding. Vicious is certainly a strange individual; I still don't know if I like him.

_-in my sweet serenity-_

AN: yes I am alive. I am juggling three fics and I am so sorry that this came out so late…my bad. Anyway. I hope you liked this chappy, and for reference, Shin is alive, but Julia, Daemon, and Faye think he is dead. So…there…clarification!

Well, I have to go back to writing. I hope you liked this chappy!!!!!

btw i will be gone for the next two weeks, but i will update soon after that dont worry!

Thank your for all of your reviews!

Please please Review!


	12. Code:Fatality

Warning this chapter may have some violent images/sounds…please don't report me!

Code: Fatality

-(-

I involuntarily tense up at the sight of the Black Falcon Syndicate building coming ominously into view. The long, brand new building slices across the sunrise like a stiletto. I narrow my silver eyes; there is little margin for error. I'll have to take on Daemon, while Shin and Andy find where Faye and Julia are. Just then, a communication window popped up in our zipcraft.

"Shin person and Silver person Ed brings trouuuuubling neeeeeeews." My eyes dart to the screen, as do Shin's. What went wrong? The security systems and doors should have been disabled completely, giving Faye enough time to hide somewhere. It isn't by far a neat perfect plan, but it was all that could be done. Faye is resourceful.

"Ed was only able to open doors in the cell block where Faye was and tap into security cameras. Ed is very troubled, Daemon has Faye-Faye and he killed that pretty woman too!" I clench my pale hand into a hard fist. This went completely wrong. If Daemon has Faye he has the upper hand, and who isn't to say that he hasn't done something to her already?! If he harmed her in any way ill make _sure_ he is sliced into little shreds.

"You're kidding me! Ed! Dammit, what do we do now Vicious?" Shin looks at me with a panicked look on his face. This has just become more complicated and more simplified at the same time. For one, we don't have to look for Faye, but she couldn't be in a more dangerous fix than she already is. Faye is really nothing but trouble; I chuckle to myself.

Our zipcraft fleet is nearing the Black Falcon building quickly; time is running out. Then a plan hit me…instead of letting them have the upper hand, by us just using the other zipcrafts as distractions and infiltrating the building secretly; we will attack them.

"Ed, I need you to tell me where Faye is now." I command quickly, while dancing my long fingers across the control panel of the zip craft. This attack is not what I had in mind, but it might prove useful if we are able to bring Julia's troops into disarray. Besides, attacking has always been my specialty.

"She is in the Northern Wing ding fling ping!" I roll my eyes as Ed claps her feet together over her head. I look to my right; the right half of the building will go undamaged. I press the communication button on the dashboard and Shin looks at me curiously. I narrow my silver eyes as I lock onto the other fifteen ships in Shin's command.

"There is a change of plan. Attack the Black Falcon syndicate building, but leave the Northern wing undamaged. Don't let us down." My voice quips sharply, followed by a chorus of 'Yes sirs.' Shin looks at me wide eyed. He probably thinks that my plan is a little too harsh, but if there is one thing to learn about the Syndicate and their battles, you are either the attacker or the attacked. First strike is everything.

Shin swerves to the left and the fifteen ships lined up in three arrows of five behind him, like silent ravens. My silver hair catches in the thin morning light as Shin flips the missile switch and fires the first shot at the first guard tower. The missile sails like a meteor and with an incinerating crater; the alarms go off across the compound.

People like ants pour from the building that they half-devotedly want to protect. But their efforts are in vain as a wave of missiles from behind us hone in on their targets with tragic precision. At this time, the fool Andy wakes up from behind me in time to see the Black Falcon hangar open to reveal its own armada; how stupid this has turned out. This is nothing like three years ago; Syndicates are more like their own small army than a crime syndicate.

Then again, that is probably only because of the fools that have led the syndicates to this point. Three years ago everything was subliminal and secretive, but now, it seems as if everything is now out in the open for the whole planet of Mars to see.

"Vicious, we're out of missiles; I'm landing the zipcraft." Shin's voice confidently announced as he brought down the zip craft near the north wing of the building. I look out towards my left; fire and metal erupt through the sky like firecrackers. This reminds me of Titan too much, figures it would be like this in the end. I lift up the door, the sound of scattered machine gun fire and explosions enter my ears immediately as I search the ground for a suitable weapon.

"Perfect." I pick up a long steel pipe with a sharp jagged end and twirl it once to gauge its weight. I look behind me, seeing Andy looking around, almost aloof to the whole situation. Then I look to me left, Shin's slanted teal eyes look back at mine for a second as he gets out his .45 and checks his coat pockets for two extra clips.

Shin looks older now, he doesn't look like the small, young naïve kid who would lag behind and serve as back up, or an information boy. He looks ready, but looking ready and being ready are different things. My mouth remains a straight line as a group of Black Falcon Syndicate lackeys try to surround us in a small circle.

"You ready Vicious? I'd like to see you try and take on Daemon with a piece of pipe." Shin laughs as he aims at a man and shoots him before he could shoot. I smirk as I swing and crack the pipe into the heads of three men before impaling another with its jagged edge. I hear slashes behind me; I assume that aloof excuse for a fighter, Andy, is ready too. Then a faint rumbling sound comes from behind us, sounds like its coming from the air.

"Heads up!" Andy yells in his drawled, laidback style. Shin and I dive to opposite directions as a zip craft falls from the sky and explodes in a fiery sphere where I was fighting not two seconds before hand. I rise, with help from my pole, from my diving roll and scan across the area quickly. It didn't take me long to find the entrance to the North Wing. I quickly dart to the cracked glass doors with Shin fast on my heels.

"Hey! You weren't thinking of leaving me were you?!" Shin grinned "I'm not that easy to get rid of you know." Shin said with a humorous tone, though I put a hand to his mouth, he talks way too much, anyone could hear us.

We silently but swiftly ran down the appropriate hallways, and up two flights of stairs. Shin's nervous teal eyes darting like bats to the darkened, windowless hallways, the missiles knocked out the electricity. I don't mind the lack of light, but I do mind the lack of noise, it is graveyard quiet.

As we entered the main room on the North Wing, the morning light peaked through two large windows, flanked by heavy pulled back curtains. A desk separated us from the windows, making the light silhouette the high ceiling room. A lone, dark figure stands behind the desk; I can tell immediately that the figure is female. I tighten my death-grip on my weapon as I make a running dash and flip over the desk and mightily strike down on the figure. I didn't connect.

"Ohayo Vicious." I whip to my right as the figure comes into view. I scowl, it is Julia. I back-flip back over the desk, towards the door near Shin.

"Julia." I spit as I watch her take out her gun and aim it to my head; I spin my pole in response to my side, preparing to run her through with it. Shin a few yards away from me aims his gun at Julia's figure as well.

"Vicious, three years of being out of the Syndicate have made you sloppy. I think it's best if we just bury the problem." Julia's soft, normal voice floats by my ears like a trickle of water. I sneer. The only problem I see, is a woman who won't let the past go.

"Where is Faye? I will only ask you once." I calmly bark. Julia smirks, her once vivid blonde hair now looks like ashen beige against the morning sky. She is no longer who she used to be, she is just a ghost. And ghosts should just stay dead.

"That is so cute Vicious, you think she is still alive…." By this time, I hear Shin getting restless behind me. I turn my head slightly to see his teal eyes twist and contort in anger.

"You said that we had three days! We are here on the third day; you promised you wouldn't kill her! What do you want?!" Shin shouts as his finger quivers on the heavy trigger like a writhing snake. Julia smiles, a deadly venomous smile; the same smile she wore when I found out about her and Spike

"Shin, I want you to kill Vicious." I scowl immediately. I knew Julia was up to something sadistic, but not this. I turn my silver-veiled head to Shin who was standing there trembling with unspoken anger and trepidation. I narrow by silver eyes and glare back at Julia. She is just simply standing there smiling. I have had enough of this. I take my jagged pole and raise it like a lance, I will simply impale her with it here.

"If you make a move to harm me, Daemon will not hesitate to take her life." I don't put down my weapon, but I do lower it a small bit. She has given us few choices, and I am wondering how Daemon knows when Julia is hurt. Will Shin actually go through with Julia's scheme? He has never shown any loyalty towards me, nor any emotion that shows any type of partnership. Then a rather strange question enters my mind…why does Julia think that Shin can beat me?

"I…will not participate in any scheme that will help you Julia! I refuse! You can use your own sweat to take Vicious down! I will not fight him!" Shin thundered from across the room. I stand slightly relieved, a ghost of a grin comes across my lips, perhaps Shin is not as disloyal as I once perceived.

"He killed your brother, and you do not wish to see that justified? What type of brother…aligns himself with his killer?" Julia forlorn voice floats by my ears. I almost growl. I did not kill Lin…Julia knows that. I am tired of being blamed for killing someone I have not slain! Then a soft noise escapes Shin's mouth, a slight laugh as he lets his gun slide from his hand and clatter to the floor for effect.

"Vicious didn't kill him, besides Julia, the past is what should be buried, not Vicious. Julia, it's time to bury the past, you." Shin pointed his finger at Julia, who was blank in response. She stood there; I know at this point that something is up. She has a plan in case Shin said no. My eyes dash around the room for evidence of a trap. Then I see Julia make a small hand motion on the desk that she is standing behind. I don't see anything, but obviously Shin does.

"Vicious look out!" I turn sharply to see Shin sprinting towards me; I feel his hands push my unsuspecting right side roughly. My body reacts with a stumble backwards and wide silver eyes as I see something wiz by my head. A bullet, there was a sniper in the high-ceiling room this whole time! I see Shin pull something from his sleeve, a switchblade, and hurl it at the adversary before the inevitable happened and I feel my stomach tighten up into a knot.

But that isn't the thing that made my stomach curl and knot into a small ball. It is witnessing Shin's wide, teal, fearful, yet sure eyes, spark as the bullet struck him right below the ear and jaw, through his unprotected neck.

_'Tluck'_ was the sound of the bullet as it went through one side of his neck, and out the other.

As his body crumpled, limp and bloody to the floor, I hear a silenced shout, and out of my peripheral vision I see a body fall from the scaffolding with a knife coming out of his forehead, along with a piece of equipment and his sniper rifle. But I am not focused on that… I kneel down to Shin's sputtering face, his eyes glazing over like stained glass windows, and I frantically rip off a piece of my clothes to try to control his immense bleeding.

It is like being in a play and you have forgotten your lines. I don't know how to react or what to say. I feel so stupid for not noticing the sniper, stupid for letting Shin push me out of the way. He has always been so selfless…giving his life just for the chance of seeing his friends alive once more. I have never met anyone like him before, it isn't right that he should die, and that I can't think of anything to say to him but this one sentence that seems to be burned in my brain like a toxic omen.

"I told you not to follow in your brother's footsteps…you…you fool…" It was all I could think of speaking, my words were caught in my throat like crawling insects. What could I say to Shin? He wasn't really supposed to die here, I meant for him to lead the Red Dragons, to be their leader. I check for a pulse, but it is so faint it will definitely fade away.

I want him to rule. He would better at it than anyone I can think of, dead or living…and now he is dying! I will not stand for this! That bullet was meant for me, not Shin, and I will be dammed if I let Julia see the satisfaction of me taking his sacrifice in vain! I tighten my white-knuckled grip on my pole.

Shin's his watery teal eyes look up to mine; I realize that no matter how I want to deny it, he is one of the most honorable people I have met. I will do everything in my power to make sure he doesn't die here. I tie off the bandage around his neck carefully as I turn my flaming eyes towards Julia with a contempt only matched by a demon. Her hard, blue eyes widen a bit.

"Did I make the demon mad? You are the one who is supposed to be dead." As she spits out her retaliations, her gun lowered to the desk. I feel my self control become paper thin, and my rage take over.

"Shut up you perfidious snake!" Without another thought in my head, I rush over like a lightning bolt, leap over the desk, and with my tense, outstretched arm, I plunge the twisted piece of metal pole into her chest. Her mouth is agape with unspoken words as her bloody body arches backwards and hits the hard floor with a sickening thud.

As my temper wanes and her eyes glass over like marbles while she takes her last breath, I know I don't have any words to say to her, she doesn't deserve any. She will finally be where she belongs, and I hope that is a special place reserved in hell. She has created too many tempests in my life, and been too unfaithful deserve any last words. With a crack and a slight noise of gurgle of blood, I rip the pole from her heart and turn my head to the window…

…I still need to find my Faye

"Vicious, whoa what happened here?" Andy emerges from the double doors, I whip around to face him, his brow is sweaty and his body has some superficial grazes and wounds, and he still has that odd lopsided confused look on his face. His katana is by his side, in its sheath. He can get Shin out of here.

"You, take a zip craft and fly Shin to the nearest hospital…hurry! I will handle things from here." He runs, picks up Shin from his puddle of blood, and walks out the door without a word, he, like Spike, knows when to ask questions and when not too. I turn back to the window, and look out it, and I notice there is a large group of people outside, one person looks female…

…Faye and Daemon are outside.

I also notice with stark realization that someone looks about ready to fire the gun he has pointed to her head. Without a second thought, I run to the window and with my pole I crash through the shattering glass and jump from the third floor. A group of heads turns abruptly to watch my daring leap, but all too late. In mid air, I have already launched my jagged pole at the man who is about to shoot Faye.

-(-

AN: I know…im evil…poor shin keeps getting the crap beat out of him L But hey, Julia got what she had coming… sorry if the images in this chapter were a lil graphic…but I think you can deal with it.

Also sorry about the long wait, I have been out of town and my VBall tryouts are really taking up proofread time

OK! Respond to ANs! I wasn't able to access all of my reviews…my compy kinda spazzed on me, so please, if I miss your review, email me or just review and flame me up some BBQ

Azly-chan! Hey you're back! Thank you soo much for your kind Review. I try to make my stories have a good plot, because romance fics w/o a plot just end up really mushy and bad ;; and im sorry to hear about your family splitting up mine is too…it's a sad world… but anyway, I hope my ending suits your fancy! Ill keep writing!

Kerlyfri9aol. Com sorry you don't like it...i can't please everyone but if you have some suggestions to improve I'd like to hear um

Gina R (eyes are all sparkly) these fics are your favorites? Really?! You made my day when you said that! Oh I feel happy all over! I am sorry I don't respond enough, but I am glad you love them!

Musica Don't worry I will finish, please don't come and track me down!!

Cbdbz247 yes I updated, I am alive…at least the last time I checked….XD

Omega Neko…well if I told you it wont be a surprise….silly! Oh and about the whole Julia exchange, I thought it would be fun to portray her as more of a bitch, because we never really saw her around Vicious in the series (except the scene w/ the gun to her head) and I think that after being 'dead' for three years that she would become bitter and hate Vicious for what he did…but then again, she could just be OOC…XD

Roxworld Yeah, at first I wasn't going to have him say it..but then, what the hell! Vicious can say anything he well wants to b/c if you disagree with him..he could kick your booty! I am also glad your opinion of Vicious has changed…he really didn't get enough air time in the series..that made me mad because he is a great character who needs to be unraveled a bit!

Pimpin Satan- yo! You got your wish, she's dead! Yeah, though its so sad….poor Shinnie! I hope you liked this chapter!

Moonwhisper- thank you for reviewing, your review means so much to me b/c I love your fic! Thank your it feels good to get a review from a writer like you!

Lets Play with Matches Vicious is without a doubt UBER SEXY. I mean just look at him..his silver hair, his ability to kick ass without flinching and…his voice is so good in the dubbed version when he speaks his like three lines of the entire series! And the Italian thing, well, personally if you dyed his hair black, cut it a bit, and put him in italy…he would be the epitome of a Italian lover….XD

Jade YEAH! Another vicious/Faye lover, we need more of these fics…there aren't enough even though this pairing is a stretch alternate!

Saminathanks for the compliment! I tried really hard not to make the space scene boring and predictable, im glad I achieved that! And yes, I do hate Julia, because it is just really low to cheat with your boyfriends best friend, especially with Vicious…b/c…it turned him all cold and that is sad. And don't worry you wont go fluff deprived for long!

Thank you again for your Reviews! They are so kind and I love each one!

-your ff buddy LOH


	13. Code: Vendetta

Code: Vendetta

**-(-**

"Vicious…please don't…" I breathlessly murmur as his figure plummets with an eagle's grace from the third story window. Yet he didn't just jump, he launched a javelin at the syndicate lackey next to me, impaling him through the chest, blood splattering onto my new red dress. I feel an overwhelming sense of foreboding, Vicious is playing right into _his_ hand…right into _his_ sick trap, and I am the worst of it all!

I'm the damn bait.

As he dives onto the asphalt into a crunching, rolling dive; I notice

He winces the slightest bit…his leg wounds aren't healed yet! I muster my voice to scream to him, he needs to get out of here!

"Run Vicious it's a fucking trap!" I belt at the top of my lungs, which is pretty loud; Jet can vouch for me. Vicious hears me, but he makes no move to run, or hide, or any moves of panic; he just stands. By this time, another of the numerous Syndicate lackeys hired to guard me, points a gun to my head, daring me to speak another word. Yet, my eyes widen to see Daemon, with Vicious' katana, walk to me with a fuzzy stick thing in his other hand….electroshock…oh shit.

"Vicious so nice of you to drop by. You are the long awaited guest." Daemon sneers as he runs a long finger around my chin. I would have punched him if I wasn't so preoccupied with getting out of my handcuffs. The syndicate ones are harder than usual.

"Get the hell away from her. Julia is dead, you have no use for her or me. Let her go." Vicious stated coldly. He is now surrounded by numerous armed syndicate members while the only weapons Vicious has on him are his throwing knives, and he only has three! I frown; things are not looking good, if only Vicious knew of Daemon's and _his_ plan!

If only Vicious knew the truth behind Julia and Daemon.

--- (flash back)---  
_"Vicious will tear you apart Daemon!" I hiss as he pushes me into what looks like an office room, but instead of it being empty, it has two people in it, one is a man in his early to mid forties with graying, curly dark brown hair, and wearing a business suit. His hard are eyes focusing on the floor. The next person is Julia, only something is amiss with her appearance, she has light brown eyes instead of her blue ones, and now that I think about it, her hair isn't quite the right color, it's beige. Then Daemon behind me begins to talk in a low tone._

_'Your friend Vicious is clever; he broke into our security systems, so now we can't use our cameras without being spied on. So you are going to have to be in on this elaborate little secret as well.' Daemon took a seat next to a long table where Julia was sitting. Then I saw something, Julia took off her blonde wig! She isn't Julia at all! The 'imposter' Julia was a brunette with light brown eyes and a long nose, but looks very similar. I was fooled._

_'What in the hell is going on? Where is Julia, and who in the hell is that!? And what do you mean secret?' I yell at Daemon, his cold eyes flicker an amused look before he opens his mouth to respond_

_'Julia is dead, has been for three years. This woman is a paid actress; we needed to hire her after Vicious killed Blade almost a year ago.' Daemon replies_

_'The name's Lita.' She whips out a cigarette and puffs on it silently while reading a book.  
_-(end flashback)---

"You are right Vicious, Julia is dead, and has been for three years." Daemon smiles. I figure out how I was conned into thinking Lita was Julia. When I review the facts, I only met Julia once, and Vicious never met Lita in person until the fight…which was just his bad case of eyesight because they purposely placed her in front of the rising sun. Lita was partially silhouetted, making it almost impossible to decipher if she was a fake or not.

"So that wasn't Julia…" Vicious mutters lowly. What would give Vicious a reason to think that Julia was fake? He didn't have one, and that's what pisses me off the most, we didn't even think twice before falling into his trap. Not Daemon's trap, but someone else's more elaborate one to seal _his_ previous vendetta.

I look as Vicious stands and assesses the situation; he fell, literally, into a trap of spiders. The syndicate men revealing themselves from their hiding places as my stomach ties up in knots. This could be the end.

"Vicious so glad of you to drop by. I know we don't have to value your paycheck since it will be needed for your casket." Mr. Kaze steps from behind Vicious with an uzi in his hand. I could tell automatically that Vicious' knew that his hitman job was too good to be true, that all of those events were too well synchronized; that everything was like clockwork. Now I bet he is thinking- 'syndicate clockwork.'

---(flashback)---  
_'The man over there is the renowned Mr. Kaze, Vicious' hitman employer, He is the one of the men who made it all possible. Vicious getting the hitman job, the bounties on you and Shin, even the clever showdown between Vincent and Vicious was cleverly, flawlessly orchestrated by him.' I feel nauseous; this was all a set up? Julia isn't alive, and those bounties were just for fun? Vicious is just a pawn, and Shin is dead because of this man's sick, twisted humor?_

_'You mean to tell me that the 'Julia' that kidnapped me isn't real, she is just an actress, and Vicious' employer has been out to kill him and set him up this entire time?! What about you? Who are you?! This doesn't make any sense!'_

_'What I said about myself is true, I am Bruce's brother, and the Red Dragons are going to be the only Syndicate in Tharsis. I will be the greatest Syndicate leader Mars has ever seen! I will simply take over the only rival the Red Dragons has, the Black Falcons, and make it look like a daring act of bravery. But in all reality, the Syndicate is going to be given to me like candy to a baby.' Daemon cackled. _

_'The Black Falcons is a real syndicate, their leader has been missing, so we took it, and we hired Alisa. Poor Alisa, she thought she was an informant, but in all reality she was just a pawn.' I snarl as Daemon denounces Alisa, she wasn't evil; She needed money._

_'But what about this woman Lita?__ And the communication with Vicious while you had me by his katana! She was serious!' I protested_

_'Acting.__ Though, her portrayal as the 'soft-toned Julia' failed miserably because Lita was too angry; it worked out in the end. We figured that Vicious would just draw his own conclusions of 'Julia's' out-of-character speech. Lita also really didn't know what 'Ti amo anche' meant, but we now know that the real Julia did know because Vicious said it to her in the past.' Daemon pauses; I feel my blood boil even more, know I know why he was so apathetic during the whole communication, Daemon can really care less about Vicious!_

_'And for that little comment after the whole communication, about her love, I felt that would just add a little flavor.' Daemon is smirking; he thinks he has already won this._

_'So, the bounties were fake too?!' I ask angrily, Mr kaze turns to me with a grin._

_'Yes, unfortunately for Vicious, the entire hitman thing was a big scheme, he was supposed to get the job, I knew all along who he was, I just had to feign ignorance until I was had to tell him why he never told me who he was, and that 'Julia' was the leader of the Black Falcons.' Mr Kaze speaks in a harsh clipped tone, devoid of all politeness._

_'Vincent was in on it too!' I yell back_

_'Vincent didn't follow procedure. He was supposed to send you to the Red Dragons and collect the bounty. Then Vicious would come to the Red Dragon complex as my men would surround and apprehend him.' Mr Kaze chuckles demonically. 'But Vincent didn't like capturing Vicious; he knew Vicious was better off dead then a tortured soul. So he fucked things up and waited to long to come find you. So I had to come up with a new plan: Julia would be the perfect lure for Vicious. So with my acting skills, I pretended to be outraged that I didn't know Vicious' past, and plugged in the hook about "Julia". After the confrontation with Vincent, I used my technology I gave Vicious to track Shin to find you near Venus.' Mr Kaze smirks straightening his three piece suit._

_I can't believe this, it was all a game to them! These last couple of weeks has been one big charade! I am just a fucking pawn! I don't understand; why would anyone go out of their way to lure Vicious here like this? Why go through all the trouble?  
_---(end flashback)—

"I should have known….it was all too simple wasn't it?" Vicious whipped his cold titanium eyes back towards Mr. Kaze. I suddenly felt guilty. If it wasn't for me, Vicious would have looked at the subtle details, the oh-so-conveniently placed phone call when Mr. Kaze informed him of Vincent just minutes before he struck…that _had_ to have been orchestrated…I continue to think as I struggle out of my handcuffs, looking over my shoulder every few seconds when _he_ will arrive.

"A simple plan for the simple minded." Mr Kaze retorts. Vicious could have seen the conflicting reasons why Daemon wanted to go after Vicious in the first place…he told his syndicate that he would hunting for him to keep him out of the Black Falcons hands, when he contradicted himself and said he'd be after Vicious for his own personal gain…

"No a simple plan made by arrogant men." Or even the fact that the Red Dragons knew that we were on Venus when they attacked and almost killed Shin in the zip crafts! They couldn't have known even though it was explained to me there was a mafia port there…they wouldn't have known in so little time! And the only technology of fast tracking was Mr. Kaze's!

Or perhaps even the simple fact that believed that Julia was alive; and we didn't even confirm it?! I know why we didn't even bother to examine the slight details…the subtle hints of a plan…I was too blinded; my mind was always occupied…

With Vicious.

"Vicious, leader of the Red Dragon Syndicate my fucking ass! You fell for every trap we set for you like a puppy! Sure you got inventive towards the end, but creativity never got anyone anywhere! You call yourself a man of honor…hell you are so gullible I guess you believe it!" Mr Kaze sneers and spit on the ground near Vicious, but the lines of Syndicate men behind him told Vicious he better not strike back. Then it hit me…Vicious is unarmed!

Damnit, all he has on him are his throwing knives! I feel the knuckles of my fingers tug slowly out of my handcuffs as I grumble that this could have all been avoided.

We didn't even bother to put the pieces together! None of us even bothered to look at the big picture…to even bother to see that the puzzle pieces fit together too carefully…we all backed up the facts with other assumptions…I can't even describe how stupid I feel, yet I feel most of all confused…because of _him_.

"Mr Kaze, the lower realms of hell are waiting for you." Vicious acidly spit back, his words cutting through Mr Kaze like a rusted blade. Mr Kaze, though, had an arrogant expression on his face, even though he knew that Vicious might be able to kill the horde of half-devoted soldiers surrounding him, and that if he got help that he might be able to wound Daemon severely….Mr Kaze has a trump card that makes my whole body split in two…I can't believe it's coming down to this…again.

---(flashback)---  
_'I don't get it, if you want to confront Vicious so bad, why not just contact him and fight him?!' I glare at Daemon ' Why go through all the trouble of giving him a fake job, creating fake bounties and duels, hiring an actress to play Julia, and then kidnap me?!' Daemon smirks._

_'Ah but you see, it's not me or Mr. Kaze who want to kill Vicious that badly to drag him through that type of torture, to become what Vicious hates the most, a pawn, and to make his life like a dream.' Daemon says, but life like a dream…Vicious a pawn…who would want to make Vicious' life a dream or to make him a pawn? Who has that kind of vendetta against him? _

_'Who!__ Who wants to fight and kill Vicious?!' I scream my eyes in little slits. I am tired of being in the dark, I want some answers now! Then I hear the door creak open behind me the only man who wants to kill Vicious this badly. And I never would have expected seeing him here in a million years.  
_---(end flashback)---

"Hello Vicious, Long time no see." That's when I looked over my shoulder, to see the lanky, green mop-haired, garnet eyed man that I thought disappeared years ago. Apparently, I was wrong…and apparently someone inside the syndicate knew how to construct a fake death, and make everything run like clockwork… and of course didn't care about sacrificing a whole Syndicate building for his cause…Daemon.

After all, He was the successor after Blade died.

"Spike…How dare you show your face to me!" Vicious glowers as Spike passes me, on the other side of Daemon. I didn't know what to do…A part of me wanted to like the fact that Spike Spiegel, the first man who entered my life and made it meaningful is back…but I can't be happy, knowing that he is here to kill the man that I fell in love with.

I feel as if I am being pulled in different directions.

"What Vicious? Just sore that I got you? That I outsmarted you? C'mon your stupid pride can't hurt that much, can it?" Spike shines his lopsided grin, but the grin has lost some of its luster, I no longer feel magnetized to it…. I want them to put their past behind them. Why can't they just both live together?

"Pride? You are one to talk…aren't you even the bit remorseful that you hired someone to be Julia? Are you that committed to see my pride get shredded to see your lover's pride get run through the mud as well?" Vicious sneers back, his titanium eyes flicker like a firefly on a chrome marble.

"It would have never come down to this if you had just died! But no, I had to prove to you that you were the weak pawn. Life is a dream, Vicious, and I am ending it right here. You proved to me that you'd kill Julia to get your way, now it's for you to die." Spike'sc choppy dis-jointed speech ended, and I realize that Spike looks determined, yet tired, restless, angry and old. He is no longer the Spike that I knew.

---(flashback)---  
_"Spike…how…?Why? You are alive?!" I stutter like a fool. My mind can't even form words at the sight of him, the tall, green-topped cowboy who just waltzed back into my life like the monsoon season in India._

_"You weren't supposed to be involved, I'm sorry about that. But the chips are down, ya know? And It's time to end this dream." Spike seems too look right through me, as if he is seeing someone else, and not me. Then it hit me, he sees Julia, he can never see me, I am nothing to him but that shrew who took his money._

_And I don't really expect him to think of me as more…_

_"I don't get what you are saying! You can't do this Spike, I won't let you! Vicious has changed, it's been three years! Leave it be! Just don't…please…just back down Spike!" I nearly broke out into tears, he can't pull me into this many directions, it's not fair that he comes back into my life as the grim reaper to take Vicious from me. Not that I feel like Vicious is weaker than Spike…that scar on his forehead tells me that Vicious was that close to death before._

_And easily can be again._

_"Faye, put on this dress…do you remember it? It's just like the one you wore, at the pool hall…when you were with Mao and Vicious." He held up the dress that is identical to the one I wore at the OPERA! Not pool hall, he is thinking of Julia again._

_"Spike, I'm not Julia! I'm Faye! Snap out of it!" I screamed as he reared back his hand as if to hit me, but never did. He let his hand fall, as well as his jaded gaze.  
_---(end Flashback)---

I know nothing I can say can come between those two, it's like that train question you get in the math class. It's _when_ they will collide, not if. So, I need to make Vicious have an advantage. I exhale as I slide my hands from my handcuffs. Daemon beside me is clueless as I high-kick him in the jaw and take the katana from his belt.

"Vicious catch!" I throw the katana shakily through the air. The slow motion sinks in as Vicious catches it in a confused relief; Spike turns with a betrayed glare; and Daemon stands with a vengeful stare.

_-find me in any place-_

**-(-**

(AN) (sorry about the slow updates, im back in school and i have been a little depressed lately so i hope this chapter makes up for the wait XD)

Well, how was that for a plot twist?! More like a total 180 degree flip…but I had to do it…you just cant have a good cowboy bebop fic with out the main man Spike can ya?! Well, I hope I kinda explained things well because I think I might have a few plot holes, but overall, I think it will work. I will probably go back in and add subtle little hints even though I didn't need them.

See, since it's first person the entire time, I figured that people's minds don't always pick up on those little hints, so I didn't type them. Even though I did write the one about Vicious being confused over the bounties, why the Red Dragons would hire them…and the dreams. Besides, surprises are just so much fun!

Anyway, again, sorry about all those flashbacks! They were really annoying to write but I didn't have anyother way to do it!

Hope you enjoyed it! Please please review!

-L.O.H.


	14. Code: Waterfall

Code: Waterfall

**-(-**

I catch the katana with a calm motion, yet inside I am hardly calm. My horrifying past has come back, the venom does poison slowly after the bite. Yet, my mind rests on my violet haired vixen in front of me. I have no time to be thinking of my past…because I am unsure of my immediate future. Yet, I will use every ounce of blood in my body to insure her safety. It is not her fault she is wrapped up in this, it is mine. I quickly take a stance near Daemon; my katana gripped firmly, Spike's attention now diverted from his former bounty huntress comrade to me.

"Bitch—"Daemon was promptly cut off

"Don't Daemon. Not now." Spike warns Daemon bitterly, Faye looks about ready to either run or attack. My eyes slim in anger as Daemon takes another step closer to the slowly retreating Faye. I see my window of opportunity and with a quick flick of the wrist, Faye has the advantage.

"Gah! Damn.Vicious!" Daemon turns to me with a knife sticking from his back. The scarlet blood flows down his shirt like a river. Faye mouths a thank you, but no words spill from her full pink lips, she is torn. I can tell. She doesn't even know where to go.

And yet again, it is my fault. My eyes narrow on Daemon; his apathetic demeanor shatters as he plucks the stiletto from his back and looks at the scarlet blade. His raven eyes locked on Faye, who seemed to lower his arrogant ego.

"And you will shed tears of scarlet." I spit simply. I could care less what happens to that dumfuck; he isn't the leader of the Black Falcons. He poses no threat compared to the beast that is right in front of me, Spike. I can tell that Spike is something else entirely. In a way, we both died that fateful night three years ago, but we turned into two different beasts, like our souls have reversed in the past three years. My silver hair swishes as I turn to Faye on an urgent grace.

"Faye get out of here now!" She looks at me in protest, but I cut her a menacing glare that carries her feet away from Daemon. As she runs away to the first thing that she sees, the syndicate compound, she calls out to me, beckoning me a dire request.

"Don't die on me!" Her serious emerald eyes seep into mine like a reflection of innocence. She is innocent, too guiltless for the likes of Spike, Daemon, Kaze and I. My eyes transfigure into a silver hue of understanding as she takes that as a silent answer. Looking at her one last time before she disappears into the building my mind reels and all I can think of is 'Ti amo anche.' Daemon looks at me smugly

"Vicious, you are surrounded; your death is not if, but when." His words didn't faze me, I am not stupid, and this battle is futile for me. I clench my left fist as Daemon follows her into the labyrinth of a building, and I cannot help her further. I have faith though, she can do it. She can defeat Daemon, at least she better be able too.

"Now c'mon Vicious, didja really have to stab him like that?!" Spike nonchalantly asks, with an edge of frigid humor. My eyes dart to him as I change the grip on my katana, perhaps I can persuade him to let the soldiers, and that idiot Kaze behind me to leave.

"I don't know Spike, did you really have to involve Faye, Shin, Vincent, and even your cop friend? Spike, you made this complicated, when it is supposed to be simple." I slice him up with my words, and they hit. I see his eyes alight in a familiar rage, one I have not missed in the past three years. His persona alters from nonchalant, to beastly in seconds

"You say that to me? You are psychotic sociopath, I am merely trying to rid my life of a cold blooded murder, and you try to implicate me with involving unnecessary people? It is your fault Vicious, I didn't save Faye that night on Callisto, I didn't make buddies with Shin, and I most certainly did not ask Jet for help. I did it on my own." Spike clicks the safety on his Jericho, the gun looks white in the morning light. My dream…

"What have you done Spike? Tell me what you have done; I do not see the reasoning behind it." I fire back coldly, angry that he cannot take responsibility for the people that he affects. He thinks life is a dream still. I do not understand how the whole 'life is a dream' reasoning got stuck in his simple brain anyway. He wasn't always like that, then again, I have no say in it either, three years ago I would have definitely looked at life with a more…desolate perspective.

"Vicious, Vicious, Vicious, I'll show you, personally. Kaze, take back the men, I won't need them. I can take down the beast myself." His enraged garnet eyes look to the man behind me in recognition. Kaze nods and the men back off like a creeping fog. I waste no time in charging Spike as I swing my katana behind my head.

Though, what I wanted to be a quick, effortless leap, turned into a slightly sluggish run when I was reminded of my hampering leg injuries. I grimace as I am forced to dodge to the left from one of Spike's expertly aimed shots. His mop of green hair looks dark and distorted against the morning sun.

"Beast? Look at yourself Spike. You could have started over. You had all the cards but you decided to fold! You decided to be an echo of what you could have been. That stupid cop was right; you are a shell, an echo, a beast that won't die!" My voice shakes with suppressed vehement anger. As I put two hands on my katana for another attack. His garnet eyes look deceived as I glare into his soul.

I strike back at him, slicing his left arm with a deep crescent slice. He shoots again, I duck into a roll and slice at his ankles, but miss. I jump up to deliver another blow, only to deflect an almost fatal shot to the head with a hasty parry. My katana sings as the bullet deflects off its sharp, smooth metal and into a soldier who didn't retreat all the way.

"Start over? How could I start over knowing the man who ruined everything that I lived for is still alive?" Spike retorted as he kicked at me with his long legs. I blocked his blows and sliced up his right leg in the process, which was the last straw for him. My eyes constrict into lines of luminescent titanium as I am silhouetted by the morning sun. I bring my katana out to my right side, its long, fatal blade pointed to the asphalt.

The sun warms my back, and my hair glows like a sinister halo above black cloak wings.

Spike and I fucked everything up. I know I indirectly caused the death of Julia, I know that I killed Mao, and almost killed him. I don't deny my dark, malicious past. He just wont face the fact that he also contributed. He contributed in my father's death! He contributed in Julia's death as well. I was not a kind person back then, I am still not, but I don't pretend to be innocent of everything and pass of responsibility like a child who wont grow up. I was a beast, I was death at your door, but things change.

A familiar silver zipcraft flies over my head, and I charge as Spike points his gun.

"Take responsibility for your actions you blind beast!" Unfortunately, bullets are faster than my ailing legs. The bullet strikes the left side of my chest as the point of my blade is just half a foot from his throat.

A sputter of crimson and a gurgle of liquid decant from my chest.

I crumple into a roll and salvage my stance. My sticky chest now burns like an inferno…I am no longer offensive, this is suicide. Spike looks at me, his cocky grin displayed between his cheeks like a shield. His gun smoking as he reloads it, the empty clip falling to the concrete like a time-stopping explosion. My vision fades for a trice.

"Responsibility? Responsibility is nothing. This world is a dream. How can you be responsible for anything, if you aren't even awake?" He answers back. What a fool. I thought that he would be able to get the real picture by now. I finger one of my throwing knives in my bloody pocket. With the flick of the wrist, the dangerous stiletto penetrates Spike's right leg, causing him to get on one knee as I slowly stand up tall.

"I am awake; you are so pathetic." I change my stance and thrash my katana to the right and left, slicing his shoulders before he can have a chance to take aim. I deflect another bullet as he jumps up and tries to knock my failing legs out from under me with his own injured ones. I barely back-flip to evade the attack. While upside down in midair I take out my last throwing knife as launch it at him with a sideways throw.

As my feet touch the ground around my tattered cloak, my knees collapse again, splattering blood onto the pavement while dripping blood from my chest wound merges with the puddle. I realize that he had learned some tricks of his own. He was holding my stiletto with his left hand; his fingers were only scratched from the blade. Damn.

"Pathetic Am I? Let's see you catch this Vicious." He throws it with such speed that I am not able to catch it, but because of Spike's slashed shoulders, the aim is slightly off and only manages to cut off a lock of my silver hair. The silver hair falls into the puddle of my own blood. As I look up, Kaze's men have lined up behind Spike unknowingly; their rifles and uzis pointed at me with a staid precision.

It's over. My grip on my trusted katana slacks….I am sorry Faye.

It was at that second though, when I heard a familiar noise…a zip craft…an old zipcraft. Spike's eyes widened as he first looked behind him at the firing squad, then to the sky. The beaten yellow fishing ship had clutched in its mechanical claw a long steel beam. I rolled to the side clumsily as the beam was let loose and thrown at the unprepared firing squad behind Spike. The beam struck them all horizontally; Kaze's head was taken off from the sheer velocity of the hurled beam. The zipcraft then landed a ways away on the adjacent side of the complex.

"Jet?" Spike subconsciously thought out loud. What could be going through that Cop's head? He is here to save Spike. He can't interfere; I don't want to kill him. The only person I want to kill is Spike. Killing that cop is a waste of my dying energy. I take advantage of Spike's musing as I sprint up and whip my katana out to his exposed neck.

It didn't work.

He parries with his gun and the two weapons shake with their own intensity. Garnet aflame in hatred, Titanium iced over in duty. We glare sadistically at each other, eyebrows knit in determination, and knuckles white in fervor, teeth grit in concentration, neither one of us wants the other to kill him. One has too much to die for; the other has too much to live for.

Faye's smiling image revolves around in the back of my mind like a carousel. She is always there for me; I am rarely there for her. Now that I think about it hard enough, I am sure she can do much better than I, a washed out syndicate lackey. Yet that logic makes my stomach turn over, I want to be with her.

She, however, is fighting for her life in a syndicate complex while I, stand and fight Spike. I need to end this. This stupid battle, I don't care. I don't care what happens to Spike, I don't care if I kill him, because I have something else I need to fight for. Someone needs me right now, and I…I…think….I…need her too.

My katana pushes his Jericho out of the way long enough to get in a stab. He falls backwards, His gun pointed to my heart, my katana impaled in his chest. My body stands over his like an angel of shadows silhouetted against the fallen beast. My eyes transfigure into little titanium slits again as I push farther into his chest with my bloody katana.

"Villains always die in the end…" Spike manages to spit as he pulls the trigger. It feels like a lightening bolt surging though me. The bullet strikes me in the center of my chest this time, too many shots to the chest. The blood explodes from my chest, crimson floods my graying vision. I visibly flinch and cringe. Spike, however, is dead, the blood spurting from his chest is a sign I struck his aorta. My vision swims as I use my katana to stand up, my shirt soaked to the bone with my own blood; it runs down my already bleeding legs like scarlet waterfalls. My chest clenches as if a vice is squeezing the life from my muscles. Yet…I promised Faye, I have to see her, even if for one last time.

"Arivaderci Spike." I whisper as I hear the clunk of heavy feet behind me, I turn and see a blurry outline of…the cop? Is it him? I can't tell. The man runs closer and I realize that it is Jet. Yet I have the sinking feeling he is not happy that I killed his old comrade.

Yet I don't feel anything this time, it's as if that wasn't Spike I killed, but an animal.

The pain wracking through my body becomes more unbearable as I take a few shuffling steps towards the compound…I need to get to Faye. Perhaps that cop will be so wrapped up in looking at Spike he will let me go. With my katana as a cane, I press on to the door that Faye ran into not ten minutes ago. Please let her be alright. I can't die not knowing if she is alright.

"Vicious... " I heard my name spat by the cop as I turn around, I realize morbidly that I left a river of blood from where Spike's body was, to where I am now. My tired silver eyes look at his blurry, sun danced figure. His eyes hold no malice, I don't understand.

"Faye," Was the only syllable that I could speak as I made my way to the door. Yet he left Spike's body behind and ran at me in seconds. I frown, knowing it took him three times faster for him get to where I am now. Yet, I don't care, I just need to see her, make sure she is ok, before…

"You are dying aren't you?" I look at him with a dead pan expression on my face.

"What con—cern is it…of yours?" I tried to respond, but hot liquid comes through my mouth and projected to the ground…my own blood. Jet frowns at me while I finally make it to the door, but Jet opens it for me. I don't care, my pride is subordinate to my desire to find her, and if Jet can help me get there faster, then so be it.

"None. Yet I can't let you die. Faye will be crushed." I look to him out of the corner of my silver eye, more blood splatters against the linoleum floor making a sick, wet sound. Jet winces as my blood gets tracked on his shoes. It was then that my katana blade slips from under me, and I fall foreword like a heavy concrete bag. I however, do not meet the floor, but Jet grabs me, supporting my shoulders.

"thanks." I manage to answer, the metallic taste of blood in my mouth becomes too overwhelming and I spit more of it onto the linoleum. I feel eyes bore into the back of my head and I shift my eyes back to him, his hard gray blue eyes search my facial features.

"I saw everything from Ed's computer, the meeting with Faye right after the security breach: Spike, the Sniper and Shin, the fake Julia and I can't help but be reminded of the opera when Faye went after Mao's bounty. This situation is the same only reversed. I don't know what happened to Spike, how he survived; I want to know what went through his head and you are the one who will answer me. Dammit answer me! Why?!" Jet thunders at me angrily, and I suppose he has a reason to be. It would be easier if I could have remained the 'Villain' and have Spike be the tragic hero. It didn't work out that way, it rarely does. It isn't logical; I am sure Jet and Shin would much rather have Spike alive than I…then it hits me, does Faye? Does Faye prefer Spike over me? I hope not.

If she does…then there is nothing in this world worth believing in.

"He was the…ti—ger striped cat. He died three years ago. I am the serpent…I just shed my past and re—start." More blood spatters to the floor from my mouth as my head begins to hurt and black spots enter my vision, but it would be a waste if I gave up now. Jet opens his mouth for a quip when a piercing obscenity rings down the hall. Faye.

_-I will call it solitude when all my songs fade in vain-_

**-(-**

ok so how was that for a fight scene? Well, sorry this was such a late update, I have been sooooo busy and with two other fics, I am becoming overwhelmed. But never fear, this fic will have at least one more chapter. I think only one more, this is almost the end.

And I am sorry Spike lovers, I LOVE Spike, but this is a tribute to Vicious so naturally Spike would be portrayed in a more negative light. And yes, I know Spike is out of character, but that is because I wanted to get the point across that Vicious and Spike did a role reversal. I used Faye's red dress as a symbol for the cathedral battle where Vicious is the ultimate bad guy who kidnaps people and kills old men and so on. I also just really wanted this fic to ease into the perspective of 'What if we rooted for Vicious to win the famous death-duel at the end?' 'What if spike was the 'villain' of the series and Vicious was the tragic hero?' Don't worry, Vicious isn't going to become Spike, I wanted the roles to change, I am sure Watanabe is trying to find my address and hunt me down for ruining his character Spike …XP

Ok…enough of that, I am really tired, PLEASE review, b/c I'd love some feed back incase anyone actually enjoyed or hated the role reversal thing.

Ok Ja Ne fellow bebop fans!


	15. Eternity

Eternity  
**-(-**

"Die you fuck!" I shriek loudly across the echoing red-dressed hallway, my side dripping viscous blood onto the white laced black marble. Yet my shrill yell has no effect on this malevolent visage, shrouded in ebony hair darker than the marble itself, and just as cold. His sharp eyes pierce at me like a falcon on a cloudy day just finding its prey. I glare back at him as the itching feeling of liquid dripping down my right leg irritates me.

"Come now Faye, did you really expect to beat me, much less escape unscathed? I am being easy on you because I might want you for certain….services later." He holds the sniper rifle from the stair landing, pooled in crimson carpeting. The morning sun is streaming in through the side, making the air look streaked and fuzzy…or perhaps it is my eyes that are deceiving me.

"Take a good look now Daemon, I'm the last person you'll ever see." I finger the long stiletto in my slender, blood stained fingers. I just need to hold him off, that's all…My life depends on it, not to mention Vicious' also. I feel my lungs drop when I think of his name; I left him there, against who knows how many people with uzis and other guns…and I can't forget Spike. what a selfish bitch I am. If I find out that Vicious was killed I'll…no. I cannot think that way; he has to be alive. Vicious has always prevailed; he has always won; he wouldn't die on me when I need him most.

He better not, he promised me!

"Faye. You are truly foolish bitch aren't you? Vicious is dead. Spike is dead; there is no way either of them would be alive after I hired all those men to shoot down the survivor! If I were you, I'd cut short my losses and join me. You'd be well taken care of, of cour—" I cut him off, how dare he even suggest such a thing. I try to run toward him, but the bullet in my side prevents me from moving quickly. I am so tired of people thinking of Vicious as nothing more than a serial killer, I wish Vicious would just come in and prove him right.

"I would NEVER join you, you sadistic little fuck! And Vicious is alive, you could never ever beat him ever!" With that my hand clutches my only means of self defense, the stiletto, with a white-knuckled grip. Vicious, you couldn't have died, not when we have come this far. I wont let Daemon ruin this; I won't let anyone ruin what we have fought so desperately to hold onto…our little shred of happiness.

Not even Spike will stand in our way of my cliché romantic novel ending.

"Ah denial, how sweet my little violet haired Vixen," He walks down the steps with a tall, straight posture that makes me take a subconscious step backwards. "Yes that is it, fear me, I wont deny it, I love it when they fear me." His coaxing voice fills the air with a potent arsenic taste. I snarl at the thought of fearing him as I stand as tall as I can with my bullet injury leaking blackish blood onto the marble…

Great…black blood…2 shots to the liver.

"Fear this." I bet he forgot I even had the stiletto when he threw it at me. Yet, I bet he is regretting that he forgot now as the blade leaves my dark-crimson fingers and rips through the air like a silver bullet. My pink lips turn into a victorious smirk as his coal eyes widen and sink down to the blade that is sticking from his chest like an expertly stabbed acupuncture needle. Yet my celebration does not last long, this is his second time being stabbed with the same knife, and I bet it won't stop him this time either. He leaves the knife in his chest and lifts the sniper rifle up that he plucked from the sniper in the room Vicious was earlier in.

"You just have to have things the hard way. Hard-headed women are so difficult." He lifts the rifle up to his shoulder, click the necessary safety and aim. You know, now that I really think about it, why do they call it a safety? Because once you click the safety, you pretty much are assured you are no longer safe. Man, why am I thinking of this crap now?! Why doesn't anything ever work out a way I fucking want it to? I mean, they say life passes before your eyes before you die, but damn, mine is just plain depressing. Right as I am about to kiss my worthless ass goodbye, I see a glimpse of silver flicker like a candle in the wind behind Daemon.

Shiiiiiiiiiiiing thit

a katana clangs against the rifle like a silvery whip and Daemon turns behind him quickly only to see death starring him back in the face. Daemon then takes his rifle and points it at the entity with a power rivaling Siva, only to realize that the rifle had been diced in three pieces, falling to the marble making a cacophony of noise as the barrel clanged down the black marble steps.

If death had a noise, and a face, and had a man pissing his pants, it would be this instance.

"Hey, you're late." I frown. Vicious regards me with a small grin. And yes, I notice the blossoming blood stains all over his body, but I sighed in relief anyway. Vicious looked absolutely livid. His silver eyes gleamed like twin icicles on the roof of a stone castle during a blizzard. Yup, many people would at this moment, throw their arms around their man that they are so proud of because they look like a God standing up there. Well, since my life, like I said, is so depressing, I can hardly move because of my sickening amount of blood loss, and Vicious well, he doesn't look anything near a god.

Nope. He is an angel fell from heaven and embodiment of the season Winter itself. And am I complaining, hell no! Any woman can say that their man is a God, or a Loser, or a Slack, or a horny Idiot, but only I can say that my man can wield an outdated weapon while speaking Italian and scaring the piss out of a guy named Daemon.

"How did you survive? Did Spike help you? Did you make amends and join forces?" Daemon takes a step back, and I look at Vicious as his visage comes into full light. He isn't showing any type of anger, and that is how you know he is angry. His lips are in a slight up-curl and his eyes are thin and luminous.

"Amends? Sorry. I'm not forgiving type. Unfortunate." Vicious, clearly the more heavily wounded of the two, takes a step foreword, and Daemon takes a step back, grabbing the stiletto from his chest and throwing the knife with a deadly force at Vicious. Yet, I can tell Vicious was prepared for this as he deflects the stiletto with his katana with a flick of the wrist. I watch the knife cartwheel through the air and implant itself in the desk near the shattered window, in front of the imposter Julia's corpse.

Vicious, like winter, takes a step foreword, his blood dripping onto the marble. It feels as if he is pushing a relieving gust of cool air my way; I somehow feel more alive. He is here, I reassure myself, and it doesn't matter how slim my survival rate is; he is here and I don't care if I die now; I get to see him one last time. His sliver crescent eyes orbit across mine and I feel as if I could just run and touch him, be held by him. It's not if I feel alone, or I feel more complete around him, its as if we finally made it to the finish line together and all I want us to do is coast. Vicious has this wonderful ability to take me out of reality and into a place where I can be content and happy no matter what the circumstance.

And that alone is enough for me, but he can surprise me like now and just steal me up like some damsel in distress like some trashy romantic novel. Isn't it ironic, that my life is ending up like some horrible tragic, yet cliché romantic novel? I don't know, if my life has to be a romance novel to stay with Vicious; So be it!

"Stay back Vicious, for your own fucking good, you are practically dying right in front of me. You can't kill me, and you sure as hell can't save this wench no matter what you try. You failed. You are a failure!" Daemon's dark eyes sharpen as he retreats to a hasty stance that looks roughly offensive, his only weapon are his fists and feet. Vicious pauses; but then takes another step foreword, a grim frown plays on his countenance.

Daemon's dark eyes reveal a weakness, he isn't ready and Vicious knows it. Daemon isn't ready to fight to the death, he is cowardly, chasing after me, or hatching evil plans to kill Spike and Vicious with one swift blow so he could his life with no worries about if one ever wanted to exact revenge. I clutch my side as another wave of pain rushes past me like many razor blades.

"You're no longer cool and con—fident. You are afraid. Of me, Of dying, before you could taste the power that you des—ired for so long. How pathetic." Vicious coolly bit at Daemon's collapsing defenses, with his failing icy voice. I feel like I am watching some movie, it doesn't seem real, my pain doesn't seem real. I don't want to believe what is happening is reality, until I see a person, barely visible in the shadow.

The scant light flickers off his robotic arm, and I see his slowly aging face, shrouded in his thinning black hair. He looks at me from behind Vicious, and his gray eyes are filled with regret and empathy. And then a wave of pain envelops me and I clutch my side harshly, mentally wishing the blood to rush back into my body instead of onto the black marble floor.

"And you? You are not winning either. This wasn't the ending you wanted. You wanted to face Spike for the last battle, and walk away with a few scars and your whore. But I took that from you! Nothing in this life, this Syndicate, this planet is free; you take my future I take yours! You took my Syndicate, my plans, my money; I took your friends, your past and your whore." Daemon was stepping backwards still, closer to me, and I knew that what he said was true.

He took so many things from Vicious, from me too. He gave us Spike only to rip him away from me, and when Vicious and I were together, he slowly tore us apart…but we came back together. And as long as I can help it, we will stay this way. I look Vicious right in his shining silver eyes and smirked. I methodically bring my legs into a kneel, and stand, tall, behind Daemon our foe, ignoring the pain in my side, ignoring all reason and Jet's hand motions screaming 'No!'.

"Daemon, you cow—ard, you thief, you conniving murder—er… I do suggest you—run. You yellow bastard!" I spit each word like venom, though I did gasp for breath for some in between. He turns a fraction and regards me comically at first, taking pleasure in my pain as I notice I am still clutching my side as I stand tall, but then his eyes catch mine, and his dark gaze turns as serious as stone. Vicious' eyes reveal a pain that I wish I could have missed, because seeing him sad because of my fuck-ups, I cannot deal with.

Not now.

"Foolish woman, you are the coward, you ran from your love when he was battling Spike and the Syndicate men, and you call me a coward? You have disgraced all your pathetic friends, including the dead one Shin. Now tell me who the coward is?" My emerald eyes pool with unshed tears, yet I still stand tall, my disheveled violet hair shifts and the only reason why I don't let those tears fall is because my mascara might smear, and I couldn't allow Jet to make fun of me now. I blink back the tears with skill only a woman who has seen too much could, and I take an all too familiar stance, shifting my left foot foreword and bringing my arms from my side into small fists by my side.

Spike taught me how to survive; Vicious taught me how to live.

"Faye don't, stand down." Vicious' normal, sharp, sword like voice is gone, replaced by a voice that I could only describe as falling snow. Yet I look at him, the determination in my visage is evident, I will not let myself be the damsel in distress now! I grit my teeth and Daemon turns fully to look at me, stuck between an angel of death, and me.

"Did you not hear me the first time?! The coward is you!" I snarl as I push off my right foot, then my left and with a long, swooping kick I make crippling contact with his left side sending him throttling to the right like a punching bag. My leg throbs in pain as I finish the kick, and swing my body in a tight twirl around to kick him with a high left. His head slings to the side as my kick connects to his temple, and my own blood gurgles, complains and gushes to the marble like a paint to a canvas. Daemon lies on the floor a few yards away from me, recuperating slowly; I barely even noticed that my back was to Vicious until I felt a hand on my shoulder.

And it felt real. It felt warm and it felt safe even though the weight of his hand on my shoulder indicated he was leaning on me slightly. I turn my now teary eyes to him, his eyes dive into mine like they never have before, and I did the only thing a girl knew what to do…I cried.

I turned and cried into his shoulder because I knew at that moment that everything we worked to hard to achieve has been ripped away by some selfish money hungry syndicate idiot. It was so unfair, for three years Shin, Vicious and I were doomed to fail, doomed to be nothing more than acquaintances or enemies…but we pulled through it. We showed fate that we were stronger than that. Shin, Vicious and Faye were not ordinary names to be cast out into space like cosmic dust circling a satellite. Yet we failed in the end, fate beat us out, we lost and I don't want to believe it's over.

My heart clenches to the fact that our future was never taken from us, because we never had it to begin with. I can start no family with Vicious, Vicious can never teach our children how to defend themselves, I cannot look into Shin's eyes and laugh like we were lifelong friends. I can do none of those things! And I can't be angry, I can't be frustrated, I can't be any of those things because anger and frustration are too shallow to be the feeling that is pulling me down like a ship in a whirlpool…I feel complete desolation.

"Cry not Faye, please. It is not over quite yet." Vicious whispers in my ear, I half expected that he didn't want to see me cry, but that is not what he said "Do not cry over what is inevitable, I am still by your side, can you not smile?" I couldn't believe that he said those words. Those words bounce me back so far…

_/If I go crazy then would you still call me superman  
__If I'm alive then well would you be there holding my hand  
__I'll take you by my side with my super human mind  
__Kryptonite…/_

"Hold—my hand Faye." I did as I was told, I grasp onto his left hand like it is the only thing rooting me to this world. And it probably is. Vicious' alabaster face and silver hair, streaked with blood, duplicated in his silver eyes is the only sight that I can see now as we both walk foreword together, the grip on his katana is statuesque steady. Daemon looks up to us as if he wanted nothing more to claw the faces from our sculls. But we will give him no such pleasure. Oh that is not to say we won't die; it is to say that the last thing we will give fate, is what it wants: a death by the hand that it sent to destroy us with.

"YOU WILL PAY!" Daemon shot up at me like a panther, but with a sharp arching motion black eyes shining, ebony matted hair slung back, and a few sounds of something metal striking something hard and wet, his body came down, supported on his arms barely, blood swayed from the base of his neck, but the main artery was missed.

"ack..kk…ak…ka a..."Daemon spurted like a mantra to rid the world of us. I looked to Vicious, and he was grinning, like the grin I could imagine the devil having on his face if he realized that all the angels were sinners in white robes.

"Oops. Did I miss?" Vicious took another powerful swing and this time not only was his artery slashed wide open, but his head rolled to the side like a coconut from a short tree. I turn from the carnage that Vicious painted, only to reencounter the pain that I felt earlier…the bullet wounds in my liver. I crashed down to the floor, my black blood flows from me like a stream, and I don't know how I could have ignored it for so long. Vicious kneels down beside me too, I notice all the bullet wounds in his flesh, I know that his previous wounds from Vincent are not fully healed either. It was then I collapsed all together and my straining legs were crumpled beside me like discarded wings.

"I'm sorry. Perhaps things would have been for the best…if I didn't go to that bar looking for you in Callisto… we have been alive, instead of dying in some syndicate complex…" I looked into his eyes, they register surprise and a flood of hurt and pain, turning them cerulean silver. I was hurting too. it took a lot to say that, the truth. I don't know how this turned so wrong. Then I felt a strong arm come around me, which surprises me because I thought all of Vicious' strength was gone. I look into his eyes again, they look as if he is staring into a fog and trying to focus on a single tree.

"Are you saying, you would rather be with Spike? Shin?" It was my turn to be shocked, Did he think I meant it that way? Of course not. If Spike ended up being the victor in the battle a few minutes ago, I would have killed Spike myself. If Shin ended up being here beside me instead of Vicious, I would have given up by now.

Only Vicious gives me the power to live and to keep living. I put my hand to the side of his face and kiss him on his lips, not hungrily, passionately nor sadly. I kissed him with the forbidden love that I want to live forever on this planet, to be written down in every book, blown into every cloud, thrown into every stream, whispered into every ear, that forbidden love can occur, that it can thrive, if only for a short while. And as the metallic and sweet kiss lasted, the only thing I could think of is how this all started, with one simple bounty head…I know that fate had us dancing in its twisted hand.

"Never. I can only love you, idiot." I whisper as I break off the kiss, but I feel like he got the message regardless. "I love you, I don't know why, or how, but I do. And if I could go back in time, to the point where I was in that bar, I wouldn't have followed you, If I had known you would die here because of me." My voice is barely above a hoarse whisper, but I know he heard me when he took me into his arms, fading every moment with the strength he had been hoarding, so that my head was on his shoulder, and his was on my shoulder.

"If you had not followed me, I would be dead in that apartment on Callisto, remember the man that came in? He would have shot me in my sleep. I'd much rather die like this, with you in my arms, and my katana filled with its desire of blood, than in a cold apartment alone. You saved me, don't fucking regret it." Vicious whispers in my ear, and I don't understand why he is speaking to me so nicely, so kindly. I thought at first he was just doing to console me, but then I realized that…his body, drenched in blood, has changed. I have changed him. His wintry body, the body that smells like snow, is loosing that scent, perhaps it's my immense blood loss, but I think we are changing. It's our spring. I clutch onto him tighter, and I hear his katana clatter to the floor behind me like a overlooked toy.

"I love you Faye Valentine, It makes no sense to me why, but I do. I hope that we can meet again. That fate will be kinder to us in the next time around, because I know that I am not fit for a heaven, and that you would make a very spiteful angel." I whack him slightly for that, and I could feel his smirk. I pull back, looking into his eyes, and I start laughing lightly at first, then I just couldn't stop. I just kept laughing, and apparently, the laugher is contagious, because he starts to chuckle a little too. And we both end up laughing, as much as our collapsing lungs permit us, because we both laugh in the face of whatever after-life has to throw at us, reincarnation, heaven, hell…who cares, we survived this far, and endured this much pain, whatever after life throws at us will be like pissing into the ocean to us.

"Perhaps, this is what love is supposed to be, illogical and stupid." I mutter slightly, because love makes no sense, and it always arrives and leaves right when you don't want it to, its fickle, not like winter or summer that you can count on to be hot or cold, but like spring that can be either or, an ending or a beginning, and I guess it is our ending. That is when I heard footsteps come up from behind me, and I felt Vicious' head move up and his shaking hand grasp his fallen katana in a pointless attempt to protect me.

"I'm sick of watching you two. I called the paramedics; they are coming just give them a moment. I don't know what kind of story to tell them, considering that Spike and about twenty men are dead outside, not to mention the decapitated freak over there, but hang on you can make it." Jet announces, and I retract out of my little reality to face him, my pained emerald eyes bore into his fuzzy gray blue ones. I know I wont survive this, my eyesight is fading, and I know Vicious' is too because he is looking to the left of where Jet is actually standing, thinking he is there.

"Jet, you are a great guy, and thanks for calling them, but I think it's too late." I cough out a bit of blood, actually unbeknownst to me it had been dribbling down my chin for a while know, I'm glad Vicious didn't tell me it was there.

"Don't talk like it is over, there is still time goddamnit don't give up on me, because I won't give up on you. Move it!" He steps closer to me, his feet clack on the marble like the tick, tock of a clock. I feel Vicious visibly straighten, though on the ground in a heap of blood and marble, he looks like a wounded animal, a silvery wolf, not a rising threat.

I know Jet will never give up, he is the black dog after all, but we aren't letting go, we aren't moving on, we are simply living out our last minutes the way we need to live them, together, yet alone, collapsed in blood on a black marble floor. We didn't ask for this ending, but I am glad that the story lasted this far, that the little 10 month interval where we both thought the other was dead was not the ending.

"Cop, stop right…there. You know full well tha—t I won—t survi—ve."Vicious' breathing came in strained labored pants. "Ma—ke sure they che—ck Faye first. I failed to protect her, and that will live on my honor as a black smear." Vicious stated with a dismal expression on his face, blood has been running down his chin too, but I won't say anything, it shouldn't be said. His eyes seem to blink in and out of focus as if willing them to see. I suddenly grow angry. He shouldn't feel guilty damnit! I am a grown woman, Vicious, I can take care of myself. Don't feel guilty because you told me not to feel guilty you hypocrite! Then Jet's voice from behind me startles me.

"Don't feel guilty. This situation was not just your fault, it was Spike's, Shin's Mine and a little of Faye's too. We were careless, not because you neglected her or some bullshit like that. Don't feel like your honor is compromised because you damn well know that this was all a huge mistake that no one could foresee." Vicious looks at him with a skeptical stare.

"Don't feel to blame when circumstances get out of control, or become too controlled, I learned that the hard way." Jet's somber voice seems to leap across the room, drowning in the marble, I know he is talking about Alisa, I almost forgot about how she betrayed him, after Shin told him about how suspicious she was. I grin weakly, more blood spurts from my mouth and I cough. Vicious pulls me into his warm, red embrace and I realize how comfortable this feels, how the pain has dissipated and I can't feel anything anymore. My body feels numb, but I have never felt happier, I lay my head on his broad, muscular, bloody chest and listen to his faint, slow heart beats.

"Alright Jet, I won't feel guilty then, but I did believe that things would work out differently." Vicious' clean, silky voice reverberates in his chest like the falling snow, though since his voice is fainter, the snowing must be stopping. I look into his eyes, and see the silver looking down on me like stars, and his stunning silver hair flanking his alabaster face like a halo. I ignore the blood on his face and hair, it is not important. I know that his beautiful chiseled face of thawing winter was the last thing I want to see. I close my emerald eyes slowly, the lids collapsing like a curtain after the final act of a play. The deep voice of Jet behind me only comes out as a distant thunder.

"Don't close your eyes….Faye wake up please stay with me!" Yet I really don't understand what he is saying. All I can think of is how wonderful this feels, I can't move my arms, my legs, my head, but that doesn't matter because I feel weightless, suspended in an everlasting sea with Vicious. I can still smell him, and I hear his heartbeats, I know he is there.

"I love you Vicious Inverno." I whisper out. I don't think he heard me, but I tried to say it as loud as possible.

"Ti amo anche, Faye Vallentine."I hear his voice one last time, and I hear his heart beat one last faint time. Yet his clear silver, voice is still reverberating in my chest like the last snowflake falling from the eternally silver sky. Eternal…Eternal is such a bad word to describe life, because everything has an end, unfortunately. This is Vicious' and my end, some might think it came too soon, some might think the story should have never happened at all. All I know is that I am in the arms of the one person whom I love more than any story or ending, and that is all that matters.

That is my Eternity.

_-You are here alone again  
__In your sweet insanity  
__All too calm you hide yourself from reality  
__Do you call it solitude?  
__Do you call it liberty?  
__When all the world turns away  
__And leaves you lonely  
__The fields are filled with desires  
__All voices crying for freedom  
__But all in vain  
__They all fade away  
__There's only you to answer you_

_Forever…_

_Imblinded mind  
__You are singing  
__A glorious halleluiah  
__The distant flutter  
__Of angels  
__They're all too far  
__Too far to reach_

_Forever…_

_I am here alone again  
__In your sweet serenity  
__Hoping will never find me in any place  
__I will call it solitude  
__When all my songs fade in vain  
__Fly my voice  
__Far away  
__To eternity-_

_The World- _by Yuki Kajiura  
_Kryptonite_ lyrics by three doors down.

**-Fin-  
****-(-**

AN: well….its a bittersweet ending, and I hope you enjoyed reading my fic. I know this is very very late, but I have been going through some weird academic and family oriented stuff lately and I hope you wont hunt me down with pitchforks and kill me. I might do a very short epilogue, though I do not know if I should because I very much like this ending. And in case you are wondering, yes all three of them died, Shin Vicious and Faye. I am sorry if you wanted a fluffy ending, this was kinda fluffy, but I bet not in the fashion that you thought it would be.

Anyway, thank you all! I love all my reviews and I hope that you all decide to write a fan fic, or if you have already, keep writing because writing is a great gift people can practice

-your ff buddy L.O.H.


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